The New Eclipse (old)
by Luponus Draconus
Summary: With Malefor defeated, Spyro and Cynder can finally live in peace and complete serenity. Now a dragon from Cynder's past, who has been reformed like her, arrives at the gate of Warfang seeking shelter. Can this dragon let go of his past and live in the future? Or will he stay in the past and reveal an ignored evil? Book 1 of the Eclipse series
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I do NOT claim any of the Spyro characters that appear in this story but do reserve the rights to my OCs that will be posted on my main profile soon. Those rights also extend over this story and any that may follow.**

 **I hope you guys enjoy this story as much as I do writing it and any suggestions on how to improve my writing overall is great appreciated. Until Next time, Enjoy!**

It's been 5 months after the Dark Master was defeated. The age of peace Spyro and Cynder worked so hard for was finally here. They finally have the time to relax in the city of Warfang. Once they returned to Warfang the population celebrated them as heroes and saviors of the world. The same day a festival and feast that would be remembered for the next millennia. Now life is normal for the two, except for the occasional dragon who asks to hear about their journey.

It was a normal day for Cynder, she walked the gardens minding her own thoughts. Though she wish for certain dragon was walking with her but she was still content with her own company. The events that unfolded in the center of the world flew around her head like buzzing bees. _Did he even hear what I said? Doe's he share the same feelings?_ She continued to think, she watched young hatchlings playing in a small meadow and her thoughts quickly shifted to her dark past, a dragon from her past to be specific. _I wish I knew where he is or even if he's still alive. He could make my mind more at ease at the least._ She continued to walk through the lively gardens and think about her dark past.

Spyro was sitting in his room attempting to sleep after one of the boring meetings the Guardians insisted he was required to attend. After giving up on sleep he walked onto his small balcony and looked across the city. He watched the citizens travel around the city and converse between themselves. Then a idea popped into his head and he flew into the sky towards the marketplace. As he reached the market he looked around for the stall he needed. He found it in an instant, mostly because of the shining of its merchandise. The stall was selling jewelry and all its goods were very tempting but Spyro had one in mind. He landed in front of the stall and quickly scanned its shelves for the object in mind. His eyes landed on a necklace made of silver, a bright green emerald in the shape of a raindrop hanging from it's center. He actually found the necklace a few days ago but never found any real use for it seeing as he didn't like the idea of wearing jewelry. He did think it was a beautiful necklace but again, the necklace and jewelry in general didn't really fit him.

As he stared at the necklace the stall owner finally addressed him. "Hello young dragon. May I help you today?" He asked.

"Yes, you can. What is the price of this necklace?" He replied motioning towards the emerald necklace. The mole thought for a minute, shifting his eyes between him and the necklace in question.

"I would have to say that necklace is... 10 gems." He told the young dragon.

"10 gems?" Spyro asked.

"That would be correct young dragon." The stall owner reassured Spyro. Of course being the stubborn dragon he normally is, Spyro decided to try and get a lower price. It didn't help that the owner was completely dead set on the price. They continued to argue about the price for a while, drawing the attention of other residents and Spyro's friend Flame. The red dragon walked up besides them, having heard the arguing from a decent distance away.

"May I ask what you two are arguing about?" He asked them. The stall owner quickly glanced at Flame.

"This dragon is trying to lower the price on one of my best pieces of jewelry. Granted I know you are the savior of our would but a mole still has t make a living." He responded to Flame then continued the argument with Spyro. Flame looked at the piece of jewelry that was the topic of the argument. The green jewel gave it all away and he soon realized why Spyro wanted the necklace in the first place, a wide grin ran across his face. He turned Spyro around and faced him.

"Spyro?" He asked his grin still glowing.

"Yeah Flame?" He asked snorting a puff of black smoke towards the jewelry maker. The owner quickly turned his head away from the pair of dragons.

"Are you really buying the necklace for her?" He asked, already knowing the answer he would receive. Spyro's attitude instantly changed into embarrassment and a slight red hue appeared on his purple cheeks. Spyro just shook his head no and looked at the stone ground. "C'mon Spyro. I know you don't like to wear jewelry." Flame stated with a small laugh. Spyro didn't respond and the red hue grew into a more noticeable blush. Flame sighed and pulled out 10 gems from his pouch and handed them to the stall owner. The owner gave Flame the necklace and tended to another customer that was patiently standing next to the two dragons. He turned around to Spyro and gave him the necklace.

"You didn't have to do that Flame. I was going to give up and pay." Spyro told Flame after he gave Spyro the necklace.

"Yeah, after ten more minutes of arguing." Flame responded.

"Well, thank you Flame and here." He pulled out twelve gems but Flame pushed his paw back into his leather pouch.

"It's fine Spyro, just stop arguing with the shop owners." Flame said. "I'll see you later lover boy." Then Flame walked away and the same stall owner went back to Spyro.

"If you told me it was for a special dragoness in mind I would have gladly lowered the price for you young dragon." He told him then continued to tend his small amount of customers. Spyro mentally face palmed and thanked the owner for the necklace. He took to the skies and flew away from the market

On the plains outside of Warfang, a group of dragons reached the top of one of the hills overlooking the city. They've been traveling for months trying to reach the great dragon city, ow they finally made it.

"Look at int guys!" The white dragoness exclaimed, jumping up and down with joy.

"It's massive!" The red dragon said in awe of the great city.

"Finally we made it. It's been too long since I've been able to rest on a bed and not the solid ground." A blue dragon said behind them.

"Eclipse, be happy we're here." The red dragon told the black dragon whose remained silent for the last leg of their long journey.

"Believe me Ardere I'm ecstatic we made it, my mind can just drift to the normal life I can finally live!" He said with a smile. "The normal life we all can finally live."

"A normal life? It sounds so foreign. How long were we forced to be hide because of Malefor? 4 years?" The white dragoness responded with a grim expression.

"The time no longer matters. Let's go, it's time we went back home." Ardere responded. As they started towards the city all the could do was jump around in excitement as their long ordeal was finally over.

"What do you think it's like in there? The dragoness asked them.

"Full of new things of course!" Ardere answered with a jump.

"Peaceful." The blue dragon answered with a heavy sigh.

"Frost." The dragoness groaned. Ardere and Eclipse laughed a little and a small smile appeared on the dragoness's face.

"What? You guys are so loud. Especially you Aurora!" Frost replied.

"I'm sorry that I can get excited!" She argued. The small group was now stopped as the two bickered. It sounded like a shouting match between the two, while the other dragons just sat there and listened, waiting for the predictable outcome. Frost and Aurora often fought like this but the winner never changed. It usually starts like this then goes into a shouting match then into a full on wrestling match, which Aurora always won. Then as predicted Frost tackled Aurora to the ground and the wrestling match began.

"You want to say that Frost will win this one?" Ardere asked Eclipse.

"Why would I bet on Frost?" He questioned

"Frost has gotten pretty good at fighting." Ardere explained

"You said that last time they fought." Eclipsed countered.

"True but I have more confidence in Frost." Ardere agreed. They watched and as normal Aurora pinned Frost to the ground. Frost tried to get up but Aurora pinned him good, Eclipse gave Ardere a amused expression.

"I win." She smiled at him.

Frost sighed. "Again, I surrender. Let me up."

"Nope. You forget to say something." She said in a slightly higher pitch.

"Do I have to say it?" Frost groaned, she nodded her head. He sighed, "Aurora is the most beautiful dragoness in the world and the best fighter ever. There, happy now?" She smiled and let him up. "I hate you."

"No you don't." She said starting to walk away still with a smile. They continued their way to the city with high spirits with Eclipse laughing at Ardere the whole way.

Cynder was sitting on the walls, looking over the land around Warfang. She just finished watching a group of dragons her age wrestle in the grass. She smiled a little bit then Spyro landed next to her.

"Hey Cynder." He greeted as he landed.

"Hello Spyro." She said still watching the group as they made their way to the city.

"What are you doing?" He asked her.

"Just watching a group of dragons in the hills over there." She said motioning towards the same group.

"Did they do anything interesting?" He wondered.

"Yeah, the white and blue one just finished wrestling." She told him.

"Who won?" He asked looking at the group.

"The white one." She answered.

"Well I have a gift for you." He told her, pulling out the necklace from the pouch. She turned around and looked at the necklace.

"Thank you Spyro." She gasped while looking at the necklace. "It's beautiful."

"Well I thought of you when I saw it. " He told her with a little smile.

"Again thank you Spyro. Can you put it on me?" She asked him. He nodded then moved behind her and undid her old choker. He let it full to the ground with a clang and undid the little clip attaching the necklace together. He put it around her neck and redid the clip, he stepped back. Her eyes matched the emerald perfectly and the silver on her black scales seemed to make the necklace shine a little more. "How does it look?" She asked with a small smile.

"You look amazing." He responded, his smile grew larger.

"Thank you." She smiled more. _Just say it already!_ She thought to herself. She wanted so badly to just come out and say the three words again, there was no world falling around them, no dying world or destiny to complete. She was about to say the words but she stopped herself. _What if he turns me down? What if he doesn't feel the same? He has to say it first, I need to know his own feelings._ She thought. Cynder turned around and looked at the group of dragons making their way here. The group was almost to the gates and the dragons became easier to see. The better details became more apparent and she realized something about the white dragon. _"_ Spyro, I think the white one isn't a dragon."

"He looks like a dragon to me." He replied looking at the white dragon Cynder was talking about with a raised eyebrow

"Spyro, it's not a he it's a she." She explained to him. He then broke into hysteric laughter.

"What?" He asked

"She beat him in a wrestling match?" He said through his laughter. Then he noticed Cynder glaring at him. "No offense to you Cynder."

"Most taken." She said with the glare still holding.

"I say that because, I mean look at him, he looks strong. Compared to her I would think he would win. Right?" He quickly explained

"Okay then, what about me then, tough guy?" She asked.

"You could beat him any day." He responded with a hopeful smile, she smiled back at him.

"That's right." She said turning back to the dragons. She then noticed the black dragon at the back. He looked familiar to her, strangely familiar. _No, it can't be him. It's most likely another black dragon._ Then she saw his eyes. _With the same eye color, that can happen… right?_ She continued to study him closely. Everything seemed to be matching between the two. The final thing she needed to see was his tail blade. Once it came into sight she studied it, it should be a diamond shape with a small circle in the center. She knows it's there because she put it there when they fought to see who would be Malefor's favorite. It looked exactly like his. _He's...he's alive! How is it possible?_ In a flash she lept off the wall and glided down towards the group.

"Cynder? Cynder what up." Spyro called after her as he jumped off the wall after her. She didn't listen to him, she needed to know if it was really him she's seeing in front of her. _I has to be him. It just has to be Eclipse._ She said in her head. She landed in front of the group and began walking towards them.

Eclipse was too busy talking to Ardere to notice the black dragoness land in front of them or the purple dragon land behind the her. "Cynder, wait!" He yelled. Like a hard slap across the face the name hit him.

"Cynder?" He questioned under his breath. He looked up towards the voice, he saw the black dragoness walking towards them, towards him in particular. "Cynder?" He said a little louder.

"Eclipse?" She said picking up her pace a little. _It can't be her, surely, but it must be._

"Oh my ancestors." He said starting to picking up his pace. They met in the middle and stared at each other. "Cynder is it really you?" He asked her.

"Eclipse. It's me." She said softly with a smile. "Is it really you?"

"The one and only Cynder." He answered and a wide smile appeared on his face.


	2. Chapter 2

The group of dragons were welcomed to the city by Cynder and Spyro. They decided to lead the group around the city and mainly started talking about the group's journey here. Their destination was the guardians chambers to ask about giving the group some housing. Spyro was at the front along with the white dragoness Aurora, she was asking questions about all his adventures as the purple dragon. Cynder was at the back talking with Eclipse, She was happy to see him again after three years. Spyro was watching them closely but still paying enough attention talking to Aurora. He was happy to see Cynder smiling and laughing with someone else but he couldn't explain the strange anger towards Eclipse.

 _How does she know him? I haven't seen him in the city, Hhe doesn't talk about him._ He though.

"You know, he talked about her sometimes." Aurora said breaking him from his train of thought, it seemed like she read his thoughts.

"He did?" Spyro responded looking to her.

"Yeah. He talk about the time when they were together before and after Gual turned them into his generals." She explained. "They were best friends back then, but I think they were something more than that."

"Why do you say that?" He asked looking back to her.

"Just the way he would describe her, at the time they were young, if you ask me it seemed like it was true love." She explained.

"How would he describe her?" He asked

"Beautiful, was his favorite term when describing her." She laughed a little. "Then after they were turned their were mostly together, Eclipse never trusted Cynder alone without the apes. He said that they viciously attacked her even when she became the big Terror of the Skies. I guess he always felt like he needed to be close to her."

"But, I didn't fight Eclipse when I fought Cynder." He pointed out.

"I guess you got lucky. He must have been away doing something for Gual." She explained.

"I guess so. Did he say anything else about her?"

"He didn't really go into detail what happened during his time as Gual's general. I didn't really push him to talk about it because he always dodged it or would beat himself up over the actions he did." She explained.

"Cynder is the same way when talking about that as well, you can't really blame them though the things they were forced to do..." Spyro relate.

"Yeah. It's good to see him with someone he's knows better than me. I wonder if they are going to reconnect like they did before." She smiled

"Me too." Spyro said feeling another jab of weird anger.

Cynder laughed at the story of the first time Frost and Aurora got into a fight and what he had to say to get up. She made a mental note to ask Aurora to help her with Spyro one of these days. _It's good to know he's free._ Knowing that someone else who truly experienced the same ordeal she did was truly amazing. His story on his journey here almost seemed unreal to even her. He was dedicated to getting the 3 young dragons into the safe walls of Warfang, it showed her that nothing about his better side never really changed. It wasn't just him talking, she also told him about her time with Spyro and how they took down Malefor together. He seemed just as amazed to hear that she aided in destroying their once master.

"So how is life in Warfang?" Eclipse asked her.

"It's mostly boring but then again we're still rebuilding the destroyed parts of the city." She answered.

"Well yeah but, I meant being a celebrated hero and not a… " He looked at the ground suddenly finding it more interesting. "... a monster."

She thought about it, she hasn't been asked that question before. Most of the questions were of her adventure or the fight against Malefor. Sometimes she was asked about her past but not specifically her time as that… thing. She honestly didn't expect to be asked about it, at least not at this time. "I guess, first off everyone willingly runs up to me. I'm viewed as a role model I guess and not something of nightmares. Everyone also dropped the Terror of the Skies title."

"You think that the city will forgive me?" He asked still with his head down.

"I'm sure they will and I can vouch for you as well." She said reassuringly.

Eclipse picked his head up and looked at her. "You'll do that for me?"

"Course, just from the way your friends are so comfortable around you I can see that you've really changed. So I can trust you." She answered with a smile.

"Thank you Cynder." He said, returning with a small smile. They continued to talk about the city but still haven't noticed the pair of purple eyes watching them.

It was no time before they reached the Guardians chambers and the group of dragons was presented to the three guardians. Terrador, the massive earth guardian, watched Eclipse carefully, Eclipse grew nervous under his stern gaze. _Why is he watching me so closely? Doe's he not understand I'm reformed? Doe's he hate me because of my dark past?_ He thought in his head as he stared back at the adult dragon.

"What are all your names young ones?" He asked taking his gaze off Eclipse. He released the breath that he was unconsciously was holding while a wave of relief washed over his body.

"My name is Aurora, sir." Aurora told the green dragon with a small smile.

"Frost." The blue dragon stated clearly.

"Ardere sir." Ardere said with a slight bow, which the three guardians responded with a impressed nod. Now everyone's eyes fell on Eclipse and he grew more nervous as before.

 _It's now or never I guess._ He thought to himself. "Eclipse" He said, more quietly than he honestly expected.

"I'm sorry I didn't here that young one." Terrador said leaning in a little closer.

"Eclipse. " He said a little louder but not loud enough.

"One more time please." The green dragon asked.

"ECLIPSE" Eclipse yelled. Terrador jerked his head back, he quickly glanced at the other two guardians, they simply nodded their heads. They left their seats and went into a room to left of the dragons. Cynder silently made her way to Eclipse but she didn't say a word when she reached him. "I hope they can forgive me Cynder, I really do." He told her.

"I'm sure they will Eclipse, they have me as an example that you can be and are reformed for the better. It's not like their going into this without a idea." She explained to him.

"Cynder, I did worse things than you did, you know that," He argued, Cynder's head drooped down. "I've done more damage and caused more heart ache than you, Gual and Malefor combined. I've done so many horrible things that I... I haven't really forgiven myself. Now I expect someone who's been through my carnage to do that, who also no doubt have experienced what I've done first hand. I just hope that they can accept the new me." He finished. Aurora walked up next to him and nudged him.

"Eclipse, you'll be fine, I'm sure of that." She insisted.

"I'm not sure Aurora." He uttered softly to her. Then the three older dragons came out of their room. The large blue dragon had an angered look on his face while the yellow had a simple face of worry. Terrador stood before the group, his expression as cryptic as ever.

"Cyril will lead you three to you rooms in the city while you," He then pointed at Eclipse, Cynder stepped protectively in front of him. "Come with me." Eclipse waited for a second. Aurora quickly gave Eclipse a nuzzle under his chin and left with the others. He looked at Cynder who just stared at him with a blank expression.

"I'll explain later, I promise." He said and reluctantly went with the older dragons. He could feel her dumbfounded gaze follow him through the door.

The room was filled with book shelves which were filled with old dusty scrolls as well as a few old looking books. Four desks was set in a circle with a single cushion in the center. _Are they about to interrogate me?_ He questioned himself.

"Sit down please." Volteer asked him, He quickly sat down in the center pillow. He looked at the other two dragons as they sat down behind two of the desks. He could see that at the front edge of the desks were small name tags with the dragons respective titles. He looked at the two desks behind him and felt a stab of guilt when he saw the desk that belonged to the fire guardian. "Now we are about to ask you some questions about yourself. If you feel uncomfortable answering just say you are, okay. Also I may add that this does NOT affect you living in Warfang but we ask that you answer the questions with honesty." Volteer explained making Eclipse turn back towards them.

"Now, are you the same Eclipse that served as a general for Gual and subsequently, Malefor, during the war?" Terrador asked with his deep voice.

"Yes." Eclipse answered clearly.

"How did you or someone else free you from the dark hold that was placed upon you." He asked.

"I'm not entirely sure myself. It just… broke." Eclipse responded. it seemed like forever flew by, the two older dragons continued to ask him questions about his past experiences. To tell the truth, Eclipse was getting a little irritated by all the questioning and slowly began to feel topic wasn't really a one he liked talking about but he wanted to help. In total they must have asked him about 30 questions, he answered them all with complete honestly and to the best he could.

"Okay, did you have control over your actions during this time as Gual's general." Volteer questioned. He felt like a twig that was snapped in half, Eclipse was both caught off guard and angry at such a question that he didn't know what to say but within seconds his anger came out with force.

"NO! I WAS A PRISONER IN MY OWN BODY. I had no control over anything! The only thing I could do was watch as I ripped innocent dragons apart left and right without hesitation! I looked at the terror in the eyes of the hatchlings as I ripped their families to shreds!" He screamed at them. They looked at him in shock, it was obvious that they were not expecting such a outburst or the response they got out him. "The things I did were NOT my own actions! Why would you think I would ever do something like that on my own freewill!" They quietly talked to each other too silent for Eclipse to hear what they were saying. He started at them with a blaze in his eyes, his impatience quickly made it feel like he was waiting for hours instead of a simple few minutes

"Thank you for the information. Now if you will follow Volteer to your room in the east tower after you are welcome to walk around and get to know the city. If you want to talk to us again we will still be here." Terrador explained. Then familiar images clouded his head and Eclipse quickly ran out the door misty eyed. "Do you think we should have asked that at a later date?" Eclipse heard before he was out of earshot of the two older dragons.

He didn't care, he just wanted to hide and think before he lashed out on someone because of his outburst. He saw Cynder sitting in the center of the room but he ran right straight past her and out the room. Eclipse's head was filled with the images of all the faces, the faces of his victims, the faces of the dragons he killed. The only one he could really trust enough to talk about his past was Aurora, she may not have had the same experience but she never judged him or never pinned anything on him unlike the others. Having to answer a question like that in front of complete strangers and ones who probably lived through the war? He could never do that without breaking down. Then if he stayed, he would end up hurting someone, that you can ask Ardere and Frost. It's not actually saying it to others that's the problem it's just the memories that pops in his head would just hurt him. The pictures of terror as parents watched their child get murdered or the children watching their parents basically fling themselves at him in an attempt to save the child or give them time to escape. Even though it wasn't him who did these killings he was still cursed with the memories and guilt.

He found an alley that he liked and just sat there, waiting for his head to turn back to normal. He didn't want to hurt anyone or have anyone see him in this hysteric state. "Eclipse!" He barely heard someone yell. "Eclipse!" He pushed it out of his head thinking it was in his head playing horrible games. "Eclipse." It was much closer now, he looked up and saw Spyro standing in front of him. "Eclipse. Cynder said that you ran out of the room and straight past her. What's wrong?" He asked. Eclipse didn't respond instead he just sat there and continued to wait. "Eclipse it's please tell me."

"The faces Spyro, the horrid faces." Eclipse responded with a raspy tone.

"What faces Eclipse?" Spyro asked.

"You wouldn't understand." He stated coldly.

"I'll go get Aurora and Cynder. " Spyro said and flew off.

Cynder and Aurora were flying around looking for the now hidden Eclipse. Even in the sky they couldn't find a single hint of him anywhere, it's like he vanished out of then air. Aurora was explaining to Cynder why Eclipse would run off so fast.

"You see, he can handle saying it perfectly fine, but it's just the… symptoms of saying it aloud." She explained.

"I don't understand, I haven't experienced these pictures. I talk about my time as Gual's general with Spyro sometimes." She countered with a shrug.

"You didn't spend weeks, even months hunting down dragons, destroying entire villages and ending bloodlines for the pure reason of enjoyment. Correct?" She explained more. Cynder's head then turned down.

"No. I was used to try and bring back Malefor not for that." She agreed.

"That's why. He did that for, as I said, weeks or months on end. His goal was to strike fear into the population so they wouldn't fight back when you came by. He was called the Blood Dragon after all." Aurora pointed out

"I know. I just didn't know that it would affect him so deeply." Cynder wondered

"Everyone would be affected that deeply Cynder." Aurora reminded her.

"I guess you're right." Cynder confessed. Then out of the blue Spyro shot up in front of them, catching them off guard, they crashed into him and started to spin him out of control. He quickly recovered a turned towards the two dragonesses. "Spyro!" Cynder yelped.

"I found him. He's down there," He pointed towards the alley he shot up from. At the end they could see the outline of their distressed friend. "He's not doing too good. He's complaining about faces in his head." He explained then shot back down towards the dark dragon. Without even talking they too shot down into the alley, as they landed Aurora instantly run towards Eclipse and leveled herself to see his face.

"Eclipse. Look at me, just look at me." She whispered soothingly, Cynder could tell this has definitely happened before with the way Aurora was handling it. She watched as he calmed down and stood up leaning on the white dragoness. "He's fine. It's nothing he hasn't experienced before. It just catches him off guard most of the time." Aurora explained to them. As they walked out of the alley they were greeted by Cyril along with Ardere, Frost and Volteer. "Where is his room sir?" She asked the older ice dragon.

"Follow me." He said, Eclipse let out a loud, deep growl that scared even Cynder. The older dragons backed up away from the black dragon, almost trembling.

"Tell me where it is. I can take him to his room. I don't think he quite trusts you guardians after what I was told." She explained. Cyril motioned at the top of one of the towers. The two dragons then started walking to the tower in silence. Cynder watched them until they turned the corner and out of sight, then Cynder quickly turned her head towards Volteer.

"What did they ask him!" She yelled at the yellow dragon.

"We just asked him a few simple yes or no questions." He responded calmly.

"What were the questions." She yelled again.

"Just simple questions." Volteer answered backing up a little.

"I want to know what were the exact words in the questions." She growled.

"We asked about his time as Gual's general and things of that nature." He answered shakily.

"Volteer!" She yelled.

"We asked him things like was he the same Eclipse, how he broke the dark curse, if he had any control of his actions-" He relayed

"You complete IDIOTS! WHY WOULD YOU ASK THAT OF HIM? I ANSWERED THE SAME STUPID QUESTION 5 TIMES! " She screamed at him. Just by looking at him it clear as day that Volteer was petrified of the now enraged dragoness. "JUST CAUSE YOU COULD ASK ME DOESN'T MEAN YOU COULD ASK HIM. IF YOU TRULY WANTED TO KNOW WHAT HE DID YOU COULD'VE ASKED ME!" She was too busy yelling at him to notice the crowd that has gathered around them. "I'M TIRED OF YOU STUPID GUARDIANS THINKING YOU CAN DO THINGS WITHOUT ANY CONSEQUENCES!" She was quickly pulled away by Spyro and Volteer launched himself into the air towards the Guardians chamber. Cynder turned around and quickly slapped Spyro across the face. He didn't even have time to register the hit before she took off towards the tower Eclipse's room was in. He stared at her as she left him in the middle of a crowd of dragons.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N To answer MCZ's question about how Eclipse did more damage than Malefor. Most of Eclipse's attacks on dragon villages and living creatures in general was actually his own decisions and those attacks carried for almost 15 years. Plus no one was left alive when it came to groups of any living creatures, not to mention the age variety that Eclipse** **personally** **killed. This of course ranged from elders to even newborns and unhatched eggs. Malefor simply didn't care about who died, he just ordered things to be done. He didn't kill kill them with his own claws while, again, Eclipse did.**

 **Hope this answered the question and if anyone has any questions about the story please PM me, don't write it as a review because that's not really a review. I check my inbox everyday so just send me a question and I'll gladly answer it. Simple as that. Until next time, ENJOY!**

When Cynder landed on Eclipse's balcony she saw that Aurora and Eclipse were sitting next to each other talking on the floor. They were too deep in conversation to notice her so she watched them and listened in on their conversation.

"Do you think they forgive me?" Eclipse asked Aurora.

"I think they do. Otherwise they wouldn't let you have this room. " She answered. Eclipse was silent for a moment, most likely thinking, then continued

"Thank you for helping me on the way Aurora. I don't think I couldn't have made it if it wasn't for you." He stated to her. She smiled at him and gave him a peck on the cheek. He put his head down on his paws. "Were finally safe in the city Aurora, we can rest without having to fear we might not see the next day."

"It's not night yet Eclipse so don't go into dreamland just yet." He picked his head up and looked at her. "If it wasn't for you we wouldn't have gotten here and we would still be in the burning village." She told him.

"I guess you're right about that Aurora." He responded to her point with a smile. _At least he's feeling better. I guess Aurora is really an expert on this._ Cynder thought to herself, She was just about to walk in when the next question stopped her.

"Also if it wasn't for you we wouldn't be together now would we?" She asked scooting closer to him and putting her head on his shoulder.

"Point two for the cute dragoness." He said with a smile, Aurora giggled a little. Cynder couldn't hear it any more she flew off without a sound. _No, he couldn't have. What am I saying! Of course they would be, she's the only dragon that can calm him down. Most likely because of the same reason._ She landed on her balcony with a big thud and quickly ran into her room. All she did was sit and think. _Why did I get my hopes up about him? Well I guess I didn't know about the dragoness. Well I didn't know he was alive at all! So I really can't blame it on Aurora. Honestly I guess I'm happy for him, he's moved on with his life._ She looked around her own room. She got up and walked over to her chest that was on the side of one of the walls. After opening the lid she stared at the shining contents, her armor from when her and Spyro fought Malefor, also her old set of anklets and choker were at the top. _Maybe I still have a chance with Spyro_. She then remembered that she slapped him earlier. Horror washed over and dominated her thoughts. _Oh no. I completely forgot about that, I hope I didn't hit him hard. Well to be fair, he's known me long enough that I do that when I'm in the middle of a angry rant. At least I only slapped him this time. The only permanent damage would be to his over sized ego, when I left him in a crowd of almost half of the city._ She sighed disappointingly. _I really need to stop drawing crowds all the time._

By the time the crowd dispersed he was still dumbfounded. Cynder actually slapped him, he felt like she just left him. Which she did, but in a different way. He decided to take off and try and find Cynder so maybe he could get an explanation. He landed on her balcony and looked into her room but she wasn't inside. _She must be with Eclipse and Aurora._ He thought. _One problem, Where is Eclipse's room again?_ He flew off Cynder's balcony and flew back to where Cynder flew away from him. He landed and looked around for the tower that Eclipse was suppose to be in. To no success he took off again and went in the same direction she went. While flying he realize that it was already starting to get dark. _Oh great! I hope she's not flying around cause then it's just going to be a wild goose chase._ He continued to look for Cynder and think at the same time until he somehow reached the market. He landed in the center and looked around for the dragoness in mind. He was almost too busy to hear what a couple of dragons were talking about.

"Did you really see him?" One of them asked.

"No. I only heard him." Another replied

"Your sure it was him." The first voice said

"I will never be so certain it was him." The second voice reassured. His tone was noticeably shakened.

"I can't believe that Malefor is still alive." The first replied. His voice was to, shakened. That name gave Spyro chills. He could not believe it either, _Malefor is alive?_ _No, that dragon is just trying to scare his friend._ He assured himself. _Malefor can't be alive. He was sealed away by the ancestors. I mean, me and Cynder saw it ourselves._ He quickly pushed all of those thoughts out of his head and got back to the business on hand, he needed to find Cynder. After about what seemed like forever searching the market, Spyro left and decided to fly around looking for Cynder or Eclipse, maybe even Aurora. He flew towards the tower he guessed would be Eclipse's room, also guessing that he was awake and Aurora or Cynder was with him. He was right about Eclipse being awake and Aurora being there but Cynder was nowhere to be seen. As he landed on Eclipse's balcony he notice that they were talking in a very interesting way. Aurora's head was also interested Spyro not to mention the tone of voice they were using.

"Oh! Hello Spyro." Aurora said quickly jerking her head off Eclipse's shoulder. A slight red hue appearing on both of their cheeks.

"Hello Aurora and hello to you to Eclipse" Spyro responded with a small smile. "Was I interrupting something?" An even brighter blush appeared on their faces and Spyro smiled even more.

"No no no no! No-nothing wa-was happening!' Eclipse stuttered while looking at him with wide eyes.

"Anyway." Spyro said changing the subject. "Have you guys seen Cynder around? I need to talk to her."

"I haven't seen or heard her since the incident earlier." Aurora stated still with a very red-pink blush on her white cheeks.

"Me too." Eclipse told him with a hopeful smile.

"Well thank you and have a good night." Spyro told them. Then with a wink and smile he said. "Behave you two!"

"SPYRO!" Eclipse screamed as he lept off the balcony, he chuckled a little as he heard his reaction. _Well, I'll try her room one last time then I think I'll turn in for the night._ As he flew through the new night sky he continued to think about Cynder and also about the seemingly new information about Eclipse and Aurora.

Cynder sat in her room again honestly hating herself and Aurora. _"_ Not even a chance to talk to him about getting back together and Aurora basically slaps me across the face and says 'No he's all mine!' if she wants a war we can do a war." She thought aloud. "Wait? Wasn't I over him just a second ago and happy that he's with her? What is wrong with me!" Cynder has now started to rapidly pace around the room. "Why am I worrying about this. I don't need to get involved in that at the moment. All I need to do right now is help Eclipse get use to Warfang and adapt to normal life of a normal dragon. I can worry about that at a later date." She stated to herself, too busy to notice the purple dragon standing on the balcony listening to the entire rant. "Though I could try and make Eclipse jealous with Spyro. Then he would have to come to me. You know what, that's what I'm going to do and it's going to be… completely awkward because of my own feeling for that purple dragon." She started shaking her head back and forth, still not noticing the purple dragon barely holding back laughter. "Why does this have to be so difficult!" She then collapsed onto a cushion with an angry sigh.

"Well. That was… interesting to say the least." Spyro stated to the dragoness. Cynder almost jumped to the ceiling and a deep red blush fell right across her face. She just stared at him, mouth and eyes wide open. Spyro laughed a little. "By the way I don't like being used as a pawn in some game of love chess." Cynder didn't even flinch or blink. "Uh... Cynder you okay?" He said getting closer.

"How much did you hear?" She questioned with a high pitch.

"Would it make you feel better if I said I didn't hear any of it?' He asked with a weak smile.

"Oh come on!" She expressed falling right back on the cushion. Putting her head under her paws and letting out a deep sigh.

"Now the world starts crumbling around you, huh, Cynder?" He asked looking at her.

"Too soon Spyro! Why can't the normal stuff be easy Spyro. Everything has to be a uphill battle!" She sighed "Nothing is easy for me."

"Now you just exaggerating it little." He said laying down across from her. She continued to hid her face under her paws. Spyro laughed again. "C'mon Cyn. I'll help you okay with what ever this crazy plan is. I just don't get why you want to go back to him."

"I'll tell you later Spyro. I'm tired so let me go to sleep." Cynder responded to him.

"Okay then. Talk to you tomorrow Cynder." Spyro said getting up, he looked back at Cynder when he was on the balcony. She was surprisingly already fast asleep.

"Hello!" Spyro yelled. He was inside some kind of giant, dark room. The walls looked like they were made of a strange black stone and the room had a unusual chill in the air. Then out of nowhere torches started to light up along the walls, slowly revealing the sinister feeling in the room. At the other side of the room was his three worst nightmares. Straight across was what he hoped was only a ghost, Malefor himself with a wide smile. Then to Malefor's left was fear number two, his closest friends locked in a cave. Sparx and Cynder all stuck inside a metal cage looking miserable. Then his most recent, yet one of his worst was standing to Malefor's right. A young male dragon, he looked this age. His eyes were dark maroon like blood, his scales black as a shadow, his red teeth formed a smile almost that made him look like he was happy. Fear washed over Spyro's body as he looked over the scene in front of him.

" **I'm so glad you could make it to our little party.** " Malefor said with his calm, demonic voice. " **Your friends have been waiting for you to arrive.** "

"Spyro!" Cynder screamed. "Help us!"

" **Silence you traitor!** " Malefor growled. He hit the metal box with his tall and it shook vigorously making Cynder jump back. " **Eclipse, if you wouldn't mind helping our special guest to his seat.** " Eclipse instantly started running towards him. Spyro started running towards Eclipse, at the last second Spyro jumped over Eclipse and landed behind him. Eclipse gave him no time to go anywhere though, Eclipse whipped around and grabbed Spyro's tail with his teeth. He flung him into the closest wall and Spyro smashed into the wall with such force it made the stone crack. Pain shot through Spyro's whole body as he hit the floor with a loud thud. Eclipse jumped onto Spyro, pinning him to the ground, and dug his claws into the tan scales of Spyro's soft underbelly. More pain was shot into his body as he felt the claws dig into him. He hit the black dragon with his tail and knocked Eclipse off. Eclipse rolled across the ground away from Spyro and shook his head. They both got up at the same time and stared at each other. Eclipse lifted one of his claws to his mouth and licked the blood off it. Spyro shuddered as he watched him consume the red liquid that rightfully belonged to him.

" **Your blood tastes delicious, purple dragon.** " Eclipse stated with a smile. " **Now I want more!** " Eclipse raced across the gap between him and Spyro, he crashed into Spyro sending them into a roll. They fought for who would be on top but Spyro was easily overpowered and he sat below the black dragon, staring up at the insane dragon.

" **Eclipse!** " Malefor ordered and it was like Eclipse was never on top of him. He got back to Malefor's side faster than Spyro would've ever imagined. Spyro slowly got up and looked at his attacker's master. **"I'm disappointed in you Spyro. Eclipse should have at least one scratch on him.** " Malefor scolded him. " **Well let's change gears a little bit.** " He looked at the metal cage. " **Eclipse, you know what to do!** " He barked at the young dragon. Eclipse walked towards the cage and looked at it's contents.

"Eclipse snap out of it! This is not you!" Cynder begged him but he only laughed.

" **You're quite wrong Cynder. This is the only thing I can be.** " He calmly said to her. He opened the cage and Cynder instantly launched at him. He stepped out of the way and tripped her. She rolled across the ground and stopped in front of Malefor's throne. Eclipse grabbed her as she tried to get up and threw her halfway between him and Spyro. She looked at Spyro and tried to get up but Eclipse again stopped her by stepping on her back. Spyro ran towards them but Eclipse pushed him back with the wind. Cynder struggled under Eclipse's paws and he placed another paw on the back of her neck. Spyro could only watch as he broke her windpipe without a second thought and with a pleasant smile.

"NO! Cynder!" He ran towards the pair ignoring the pain and the wind that was being used against him. He jumped onto Eclipse and wrestled him to the ground. He was about to give him the same treatment but he felt something under his scales. He looked at Eclipse and he just smiled, then Spyro knew what happened… Eclipse just stabbed him with his claws and it went straight into his stomach and heart. He stumbled off him and collapsed to the ground in utter pain.

"SPYRO!" He heard someone scream, the sound of running also accompanied the voice. He could tell it was Aurora. He tried to get up but the overwhelming pain kept him from doing so. "C'mon Spyro! You have to get up." She pleaded when she reached him.

"I'm sorry Aurora, I failed you." Spyro told her. Truth was he did fail, he failed at defeating Malefor, failed at protecting the dragons he loved, he failed at being the purple dragon. He failed. He closed his eyes and let the sinister sleep take him.

His head shot up almost enough to make him do a backflip. He frantically looked around and relief was washed over the purple dragon. He was in his room, in Warfang. He was safe. _Everyone's safe, Cynder's safe. Aurora's safe, everyone is safe._


	4. Chapter 4

Eclipse shot up from his nightmare and looked for signs that it was a dream instead of a sinister reality. Relief quickly ran across his tense body once he saw Aurora still sleeping peacefully besides him. _I hope that never comes true. I would never trust myself afterwards if I came back._ He thought to himself. He saw the bright ray of sunshine that pierced into his room. He smiled knowing that none of this was a dream within itself and he wouldn't wake up in the middle of trees or giant fields another day. He slowly got up, careful of the slumbering dragoness, and walked out on to his balcony. He looked out over the city they've spent months traveling and fighting for, he was finally happy. "We finally made it." He whispered to himself. He looked at the busy dragons below then went back inside.

Aurora was still sleeping soundly when he walked back into his room. A smile spread across his face as he looked at her, the image of peace and beauty in his mind and heart. He gently poked her with his paw, she didn't move. He nuzzled her under the chin, she only groaned at him. He sighed in frustration at the dragoness, he quickly gave her a kiss on cheek and she smiled.

"Knew it." she said softly with a small bit of laughter. She opened her soft blue eyes and looked up at Eclipse with a smile.

"You were awake the whole time weren't you?" He accused her, narrowing his eyes at the giggling dragoness.

"Maybe." She answered trying to sound innocent but failed at with holding a small laugh. She sat up and smiled at Eclipse's deadpan expression.

"Why you little…" Eclipse tackled her to the ground. They laughed as they playfully wrestled around the room. They continued this friendly wrestling until Aurora pinned Eclipse to the floor, she stared down at him with a triumphant smile.

"Pinned ya." She stated triumphantly, Eclipse playfully put his paws over his head. He was about to speak when he quickly through his paws around her and rolled over putting him above her.

"No I think I pinned you, little lady." He said with a sly grin.

"Okay, okay, I surrender." She laughed putting her paws up. "Now please let me up." He helped her to her feet then walked back to the balcony and looked back over the great city in which was their new home. Aurora slowly walked over and sat next to him. He just stood there silently looking over the city and mentally picking apart his lone nightmare, he hasn't had a nightmare that realistic in almost two months. He could feel everything that happened, Spyro's scales under his teeth, he could feel his claws pierce into Spyro's insides, he felt Cynder's neck break under his own paw. The too familiar taste of another's blood still was fresh in his mouth, it was too real. Yet it was a dream, that's what he couldn't understand. "Eclipse, what's wrong?" She suddenly asked him bringing him back from deep thought.

"What do you mean? I'm fine Aurora." He answered quickly and sighed. "Just fine."

"Eclipse, I know something's wrong. You're not making any comments or comparing me with the sun like you usually do on mourning like these." She pointed out to him.

He smiled at the new revelation. "Do I really do that?"

"Yeah, you do. Now stop trying to change the subject and tell me what happened last night." She protested. He looked at her and was met with a stern glare, with a weak smile he turned away. Eclipse still felt her stern glare on him and sighed in frustration,

"Fine, I had a little nightmare that's all. Nothing you should worry about." He disclosed to her.

"See, how hard was that." She said as she putting her head on his shoulder

"Hard." He joked with a little smile.

"Eclipse." She replied to him with a small laugh.

"Maybe we should head down to the hall and get something to eat." He mentioned to her.

"Okay, let's go!" She said quickly turning around and walked to the door. Eclipse smiled and slowly followed her to the door. "Let's go Eclipse!"

"I'm coming just hang on a second." He complied walking towards the door.

Cynder was also on her way to the main hall with Ardere and Frost besides her. Cynder was explaining her plan to the two dragons as they walked with them. "You must really want him to do something like that Cynder," Ardere sighed "I'm not going to help you with this and I'm sure that Frost won't agree." He eyed Frost closely.

"I agree with Ardere. Cynder, you're being kind of selfish you know. They're happy, shouldn't that be what matters most. Besides it pretty obvious that you and Spyro have a thing for each other. " Frost answered her along with a small sigh.

"Well since you're not going to help me, I'll ask someone else then." Cynder proclaimed, walking ahead of them. They quickly ran after her and continued to protest her plan to break up Eclipse and Aurora. This continued all the way to the main hall, relentless back and forth between the two sides. Right before they walked in however Cynder started acting a little off. She started shaking her head back and forth, complaining about a massive headache. Her head shot up and she stared at Frost with bright, white eyes. Without warning she jumped on Frost and instantly started trying to bite his neck. Ardere, in complete shock just watched this happen before his eyes. Frost was holding his own but his defenses were slowly failing him.

"Cynder! Get off!" He yelled at her holding her efforts back with his arms. Then in an attempt to get to his neck Cynder bite Frost's arm and he yelped in pain but he held strong against the ruthless beating. "Ardere, get her off!" He yelled to his red friend. It broke Ardere from his shocked state and he grabbed her but she dug her claws either into the ground or into Frost's sides. Frost yelped in pain again and his arms started to falter in their defense, . Ardere saw this and he backed up from them. "Don't leave me here to fight her alone!" He shouted at his seemingly retreating friend, the strange Cynder also thought he was running away and loosened her grip on her prey.

"I'm not and In advance, I'm sorry if this hurts." He apologized. He opened his mouth and Frost could see the orange glow on the back of his throat.

"Ardere don't do it!" Frost told the red dragon but it was too late. Ardere made up his mind and shot the stream of fire at the two dragons. He cut it off immediately, his intentions were to make Cynder get off Frost not kill her. It hit Cynder in the side and she was pushed off by the pure heat. She turned towards Ardere, his eyes widened in horror as she started stalking closer to him.

"I told you not to do it!" Frost yelled as he struggled to get off the ground, steam rolling off the underside of his body. If he wasn't so terrified, Ardere would have smiled because of Frost chilling his scales. Ardere always wondered how Frost could do such a thing, he could never heat up his own scales so they act like a heat shield.

"Well I thought you didn't want to die!" He retorted back. Then as quickly as it started, it stopped. Cynder shook her head back and forth like she was in horrible pain. Ardere took the chance and jumped on her, pinning her to the ground.

"Ardere! What are you doing?" She shouted at him as she straggled under him. He ignored her and kept her pinned against the ground

"What do you mean you just started to attack Frost from out of nowhere!" He shouted back at her, a confused look appeared on her face.

"I don't remember anything like that! I suddenly felt a massive headache and I couldn't see anything for about five minutes!" She countered back at him. Aredere could hear the honesty in her voice but still slowly let her back up and watched her closely. Then Spyro flew down next to them, he saw Frost all cut up and deep punctures into one of his arms. He looked between the other two dragons and saw that Cynder's claws were stained red.

"What happened here?" He asked the group. Then Frost suddenly collapsed on the ground and they rushed over to him. "What happened!" He asked again. He looked at Ardere and Cynder but they only continued looking at the now unconscious ice dragon

"Cynder started shaking her head and just attacked Frost from out of nowhere. I had to resort to blasting her off with my fire. She was fighting to kill, aiming for his neck and when I tried to pull her off of him she just dug her claws in his sides. He probably lost too much blood, we need to get him some of the red crystals so we can heal up those wounds. I'll bring him to the infirmary, you guys just go into the main hall. I'll catch up soon don't worry." Ardere explained looking at Spyro. Spyro then stared at Cynder but her eyes were locked on to the bite marks in Frost's arm and the holes in his side. Spyro silently started walking towards the hall when he looked back. Cynder slowly got up and helped Ardere to put Frost on his back.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what happened." She tried to apolgize but Ardere just turned away from her. She walked away as Ardere started towards the infirmary. She was walking slowly when she reached Spyro. Cynder was ashamed and she certainly showed it in just the way she walked.

"What happened Cynder. Why did you attack Frost?" Spyro asked her again. She didn't answer, instead she just walked past him and into the main hall, Spyro tailing soon after.

"So you are the dragons that Cynder was talking about!" Ember excitedly told Eclipse and Aurora after finally meeting them. When him and Aurora first entered the hall every dragon gave him either a fearful or hateful look. Eclipse wanted to show them that he was different now but he knew no way to do that. He wanted to belong with his own kind and be seen as a friend, instead he felt like a alien, like he didn't belong among them. In a way, Eclipse knew he would never fit in with the other dragons, he was too different from the rest. One example was that they had a childhood, had time to make friends. He didn't even remember much of a childhood, all he remembered was how old he was and exactly how many dragons he killed. He wanted the past to belong in the past, Eclipse knew that he might never earn their trust but all he wanted was their forgiveness. Ember leaned towards Flame, "She's right. He is cute!" She whispered to him not so quietly. Eclipse smiled a little at the compliment, he then realized that Aurora was holding him tightly after hearing Ember's not so quiet whispering. He looked down at Aurora and gave her a confused looked.

"You okay Aurora?" He asked her with a small laugh, she released her grip and turned around.

"I'm fine! Just, completely fine!" She said putting her nose in the air, like she was proper. He laughed again softly.

"What do you guys think of Warfang so far?" Flame asked ignoring the pink dragoness whispering his ear.

"I think it's pretty big. I can't wait to explore it more. Don't you agree?" Aurora answered turning back around. Eclipse simply nodded his head at her question but his eyes were unconsciously, almost unwillingly, drawn to the two dragons entering the hall. His eyes locked onto the purple dragon that was walking through the hall towards them. _**Spyro. The false purple dragon. An enemy, a target, a new taste of blood.**_ _**Master will reward me well for his death.**_

His eyes started to turn red and he felt no control… just like before. Fear surged through his body as he realized what is happening to him. _NO! This can't happen again! I fought too hard to lose myself again! I don't understand why this is happening again, they're both gone!_ He was fighting himself for control over his own actions. He was able to press his head down so his friends couldn't see his changing eyes. _They haven't noticed yet, I can still recover._ He was fighting hard but he could feel his grip slowly fading away. _I'm should tell them. Yet I shouldn't because I might worry them over nothing but if I don't then I could hurt them. I'm going to tell them._ His grip was fading rapidly now. "Get away from me quickly!" He yelled and he could feel their gaze fall on him. He heard other dragons quickly scrambling away, knocking things and each other over as they tried to get away. He was keeping his head down but even with all his might the dark force inside his head was winning the mental war. He watched as his head looked straight towards the purple dragon. _That is their target, if I can just fight it!_ He gave up on his head and fought to keep his legs and wings in place. As long as he kept his body in place then he still had a fighting chance.

"Cynder!" He heard from the purple dragon. _**The traitor, she must die as well!**_ Thought a even darker side of him. His fear was now as true as ever, if he failed to regain control, Cynder and Spyro would be the first to fall to any possible rampage.

"C **yn** de **r** , st **ay** b **a** c **k**!" He shouted in a extremely distorted voice that hung between both the light and the dark. She stopped in front of him and stared at him with her green piercing eyes. _**Stop fighting it! They must die! I command you to kill them!**_ Chills shot down his spine. Something was trying to take him over and kill both Cynder and Spyro. Eclipse now knew he couldn't win this fight but he kept trying. He felt his paw step towards Cynder but he was able to draw it back to its previous spot. _I will not be a puppet again! You don't control me!_ He shouted in his head. _**This is your FUTURE! Accept this role as my puppet. It is your only future in this world.**_ The voice shot back at him. The same foot move forward again but unlike moments before, he couldn't move it back.

"Eclipse, you can do it. Just fight it's urges." She whispered in a soothing voice.

"W **ha** t's **h** ap **pe** n **ing** t **o** m **e?** " He asked looking at her with pained eyes. _You will not beat me in this game!_ He countered as he moved his paw back into place. _**Your power will fade under my darkness.**_ Then his eyes started turning back to their normal silver color. _**NO! You are nothing.**_ The voice screamed. Eclipse was slowly beginning to push out the dark voice. _You forget that I made this game and used it for many years. I am the dragon who made this possible!_ He said and with one more push to push out the voice. _**She's weak! Easily taken over. She will never love you like she once did. I will make her hate you and want to kill you! She is my puppet and always will be my puppet.**_ That was the last thing he heard from that voice before it was complete silence. His eyes could see the colors again and he had control over his complete body again. He slowed his thoughts and looked at the room around him.

The room was almost empty of life, only four dragons were in the room including himself. He was standing up and was breathing hard in an attempt to calm down. Aurora was standing behind him, her eyes were full of terror and shock of the events that she witnessed. Spyro was staring at him and also had a small hint of shock no doubt that Eclipse was able to take control again. Cynder was standing in front of him looking both proud and full of worry. For the second time he put his head down looking at the ground. _I'm putting them in danger by staying here, but I can fight it, whatever it is. The only problem is that he might beat me at any moment._ He looked back up at Cynder, with an expression that said both scared and depressed, then began walking out of the hall without a word. No one was stopping him leaving. He stopped next to Spyro and whispered, "Keep an eye Cynder for me. She's in danger of... something I don't understand." He saw Spyro jump a little and locked eyes with him. Eclipse broke the lock and continued walking out, not looking back at them. Then he reached the door and realized that Aurora was following him. He looked at her and she was staring at him with misty eyes. Cynder was also looking at him with a look that only said that she wanted to talk to him later. _I can't be here, I'm too dangerous. I don't deserve here at least not until I can find this dark power otherwise I could be killing like before._

"Aurora, go see Frost and Ardere. I…" He stopped and looked down towards the ground for the third time. "... just need to be alone for a while." Aurora just nodded grimly and walked past him. He felt guilty about having her witness something like that, he wanted a normal life not one that was under constant fear of mental attack or killing the ones he held close.

"Eclipse." He heard from behind him. From the voice he knew it was Cynder but he didn't turn around and instead just stared at the sky outside. He started to walk away from the hall when she spoke again. "Eclipse!"

"Cynder, please don't make me explain this." He pleaded. He still didn't turn around but stopped walking. Cynder moved in front of him, blocking his escape.

"I don't want you too, but we have to stay together so we can fight it, whatever it is, off. You know as well as I do that we are the most valuable targets in the city." Cynder told him. He knew she was right but he had to keep away from her, he didn't want to hurt her.

"I'm sorry Cynder but no one can be around me right now." He stated coldly. "I just have to figure this out on my own." He walked away after, all the way to his room in silence.

Cynder watched him walk away and wanted to follow but she knew that it wasn't a good idea. Spyro slowly walked up next to her and looked at her. He had no idea what to say to her or what to do. He just witnessed something try and take over someone's mind to turn them into its pawn. Spyro just looked at her and he couldn't do or say anything to make this better, he never experienced anything such as this. All he did know was that something trying to build an army, an army built out of Malefor's old one. He thought about the two attacks as he looked at Cynder. _Every army needs a leader._ "Cynder… do you need anything?" He asked trying to break the deep ice that froze between them.

"I need Eclipse back Spyro. I at least need to see him happy again. He was only in the city for not even a full day and he's been emotionally attacked twice." She replied to him. "I've never seen him like this, ever."

"I'll try and help him Cynder." He answered her. She continued looking in the direction of where Eclipse has went

"Please, try at least. I'll get to him after I see Frost, Ardere and Aurora." She replied. She looked at him with a light mist in her eyes. She started walking towards the infirmary in complete silence. He just watched her until she turned the corner and left eye sight. He then spread his orange wings and launched into the sky. He looked over the busy city, searching for the tower Eclipse resided in. Spyro soon locked eyes with it and quickly glided towards it. It looked dark like a giant shadow was controlling the tall, slender tower. _This is about to get interesting._

Cynder was slowly walking towards the infirmary, thinking to herself. _I hope Spyro will at least figure out what is wrong. Maybe it's just a side affect of being attacked that way. Yet I'm fine after being attacked. Then again, he was attacked more brutally than I was and he was able to fight back. It must've taken a lot out of him. Still, he shouldn't be acting like this._ She was too deep in thought that she ran straight into the glass door with a loud bang. She jumped back from the door and stared at it with a hateful glare. Then she tried again, opening the door this time, and peered into the white room of the infirmary. She only saw two dragons inside said room, one blue and one white. Frost was lying down on one of the beds of white cushions, unconscious. The bite marks to his arm were all bandaged but still stained red. His sides didn't look so well either, three different bandages covered the punctures where her claws dug into him, no doubt that the other side of his chest was in the same condition. Multiple small cuts were also visibly on his chest some covered in bandages, some not. His chest was rising and falling steadily which eased her mind a tiny bit. Aurora was standing so her white back was facing Cynder. She walked towards her slowly, not wanting to startle her any more than she probably is. As she got closer to Aurora, she realized that she was talking to Frost, who was almost surely unconscious. She looked at Frost again and his eyes were certainly closed.

"I don't know Frost. I want to be able to help him but he just pushed me away. This wasn't a problem before." She told the unconscious dragon. "Maybe this is different but he didn't really give me any chance to help him." She continued. Cynder felt a little wrong listening to Aurora, but she continued to quietly stand next to Aurora, looking Frost up and down. "Maybe he just doesn't trust me anymore or he just doesn't like me the way he used to. I hope I'm wrong about it but I guess I can't be sure." She sighed. Cynder finally decided to reveal her presence in the infirmary

"Aurora, I'm sure he's fine. Just some time to recover after that." Cynder told her. Aurora jumped away from her in surprise and looked at Cynder. She continued to look over Frost ignoring Aurora's surprised stare. "Eclipse was strong last time I saw him. It doesn't have anything to do with you. I'm sure of that."

"Then why did he push me away so coldly. He's never done anything like that before." Aurora explained, still holding her gaze on the black dragoness.

"Just think about it like…" Cynder thought for a moment. "...your worst fear coming back after locking it away for so long." Cynder said giving herself small chills. She remembered the days where Gual would mentally torture her using Eclipse as his weapon of choice. During those times Gual would use them both to torture one another. If they didn't comply, Gual said that he would kill the other and if Eclipse died then she would have killed herself. He was the only reason she stayed that way, he would often remind her that it's not her fault but instead it was Gual's. She could never forget the feeling of having someone else being in your head and influencing your thoughts. She hated it, it's like someone staring at you while you confessed every single one of you secrets. During the time with Gual, she felt like she had no real privacy. Then after Spyro rescued her and she was relieved to finally have her mind to only herself again. Now with this thing going into minds and taking full control of them that feeling is creeping back into her scales.

"Well now I understand a little more, but it doesn't make sense. Why he would want to be by himself. Whenever he got something like such as a nightmare about Gaul or something of that nature he would always come to me. Ardere and Frost weren't really much of the soothing type so it's not like he could go to them." Aurora explained to her.

"Am I right to suspect that's how you two got together?" Cynder asked the white dragoness. A slight pink hue appeared on Aurora's cheeks and she smiled.

"No actually. I had feelings for him when I saw him fight off some of those grublin things when they ambushed us." She responded. "I really don't know when he started to return those feelings but one night I was having trouble sleeping when he sat down next to me and we were just talking to each other, well I was talking to my family about him. I remember he attempted a joke about Ardere and Frost. Then it felt like a while before either of us really responded. He leaned into me and I felt the urge to lean into him, then he planted his lips on mine. I guess after that you could call us a couple." She explained to Cynder. Cynder looked back down at the now stirring Frost. She thought about the story and stabs of jealousy was starting to hit her. She felt a little betrayed by learning this but she was still strangely happy for the two of them. _At least he has someone... but why can't I just let him go?_

Cynder finally noticed that Frost had his soft blue eyes open and was staring at her. "Frost?" She asked him but he didn't respond. Cynder saw Aurora throw her front paws around him in a quick hug but his eyes were unblinking and locked on Cynder.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Frost." Aurora joked as she pulled back.

"Thanks." He responded dully, still locked on Cynder. Then faster that anyone can comprehend Frost jumped off of the cushions and on onto Cynder, pinning her to the floor. Frost had his front paws around Cynder's throat and was trying to strangle her. " **YOU WILL DIE YOU TRAITOR! Then after you, Eclipse will be mine for the taking!** " Frost shouted at her in a echoed voice. She knew what was really happening, the same voice that took her over, now took Frost over and is now using him to kill her. Cynder tried to kick Frost off with her hind legs but he was now stronger than her. He kept applying more pressure and she felt the air slowly starting to halt. She continued to kick and frail but it was no use against his sudden surge of superior strength. She watched Frost fly off her and hit the wall causing it to crack. She felt the air as it started to go in and out of her lungs easily again. Cynder got up and carefully walked over to the wall Frost was against, he slowly opened his eyes and looked around the room. His eyes were no longer pure white as they were when he attacked her, instead they were pale blue like ice, his natural eye color. "What happened? Why do I feel like I just got side slammed by a mountain into another mountain?" He asked trying to get up only falling back down, Aurora ran over to him and help him up off the ground.

"You attacked Cynder and tried to choke her out. You also talked in a weird echoed voice that you never talked in before. I had to push you off with a gust of wind otherwise you would have killed her." Aurora quickly explained to him. He turned to Cynder with his soft blue eyes.

"I'm so sorry Cynder." He apologized. "One minute I was awake and looking at you two then the next, the world was red and I was attacking you. There was a voice in my head telling me to kill you and my body obeyed like I was telling it to attack you." He explained. He laid back onto the bed of cushions and Cynder saw that cuts have reopened and were bleeding profusely. It seemed that Aurora also notice this for she went off into the infirmary. "I heard what you told Aurora. It was nice of you to do that for me." He told her with a smile. "I don't think I could have done that or at least to that success."

"Well maybe if you tried to," She smiled. _Frost seems like a nice dragon, no wonder they like him so much._ "It's not hard to cheer someone up."

"That's coming from you?" He asked with a small laugh.

Cynder puffed out a cloud of black smoke. "What is that supposed to mean?" She demanded. _I guess I can take that back now._

"I meant that you don't seem like the person that would say or do that!" He confessed quickly, eyes wide.

A smile quickly spread across her face. "Makes sense." She stated

"Cynder?" Frost asked her.

"Yeah?" She responded still with her smile plastered across her face.

"You really do love Eclipse, don't you?" He asked innocently. Cynder's smile disappeared at his words.

"Why do you care if I do or not!" She proclaimed turning away from him.

"Cynder just tell me. I won't tell anyone else." Frost promised her.

"I still don't see why you care." She pointed out.

"I care because I don't want anyone to get hurt." He explained. She sighed deeply and looked towards the ground.

"Fine. I do. You happy now?" She conceded. _I guess the secrets out. Well Spyro already knew but now it's going to spread like wildfire._

"Cynder, I just wanted to know. Granted it seemed like it considering your plan to separate Aurora and Eclipse." He said.

"So why did you make me say it then!" She shouted.

"I wanted to be sure. I've seen the way Eclipse looks at Aurora, the way he talks to her, the way he acts around her, the way he protects her against all odds. He loves her truly, I just want you to understand that your plan is foolish and selfish, their happy together can't you respect that?" He explained to her calmly.

"What if I'm not happy Frost! I deserve to be happy I protected this world and spent countless days fighting for someone else!" She yelled at him. "I've lost everything! I never knew my family, I never experienced a childhood, the only light I had was Eclipse. He was the only dragon that I truly cared for and that actually cared for me! Then I lost him for 4 years, 4 LONG LONELY YEARS! Now I can see him again, now I can care for him again knowing not he's dead!" She screamed. "I lost the only light in the 14 year darkness that was my entire life. Now I can have that light back, I can cherish that light so I never lose it ever again!" She continued.

"I understand this Cynder but don't you realize the others that care for you as much Eclipse did? What about Spyro, Cynder? He saved you from Gaul, and he protected you from then till now. He's put and still is putting your feelings first Cynder. What is he doing now?" He asked

"He's going to check up on Eclipse for me." She told him.

"Haven't you thought about it Cynder? That necklace around your neck," He pointed to the emerald necklace around her neck. _A gift from Spyro._ Cynder thought in her head. "It's from Spyro right?"

"Yeah, he gave it to me yesterday just before you guys arrived at Warfang." She explained with a smile, the happy memory in her head.

"He cares for you as much as you care for Eclipse." He pointed out.

"I guess you're right Frost but I still need him. He means too much to me." She said as Aurora came back with a mole next to her. His arms full of red crystals, which glowed bright.

"I'm back Frost. Did I miss anything important?" She asked.

"No Aurora. Nothing at all." Frost answered with a slight frown her still looking at Cynder.

"Well, I'll see you guys later." Cynder stated, then left the room. _What am I going to do now? On one paw I have Spyro loves me and on the other I have Eclipse. Why is this so difficult!_ She thought walking out of the infirmary. _I just need some time to think._

Spyro flew through the blue sky towards the tower in which Eclipse resided in. _Why doe's Cynder like him so much? I guess I'll understand it later. I just have to talk to him first and figure out what is wrong with him._ He landed at its base and proceeded up the spiral stairs to the top. _I hope he's fine anyway though. I wonder what it's like to have someone actively try and take over your head. I hope I never experience anything like that._ Then his thoughts drifted to his darker self, his self who only cares for death and destruction. _I guess I already have._ He was now standing outside Eclipse's door looking at it. He knocked on the wooden door but heard nothing from the other side. "Eclipse! It's Spyro! Can I come in?" He asked through the door. Again he heard nothing, no shift if someone is moving, no voice on the other side, just nothing. He tried the handle on the door, locked from the inside. "Eclipse, please let me in. I just want to talk." He tried again. Still silence fell across the hallway. Spyro thought of another idea and exited the tower. He jumped into the sky and landed on his balcony, it was wide open. He peered inside, it was dimly light by the sun. He saw the black dragon lying down near the lit fireplace. A fire set a orange light in front of it and around the room.

"Leave me alone Spyro. I just need some time alone." He muttered grimly. Spyro saw the side of his face. The orange glow lit up a face mixed with of fear, guilt and worry.

"Aurora and Cynder are worried for you Eclipse, and now so am I."

"Well I'm fine. Like I said I just need to…' He paused, staring blankly into the warm flame as it danced. "... to think." He completed.

"I'm afraid that's not going to work for me Eclipse." Spyro told him. A long awkward pause fell onto the room. It seemed like forever before any words were spoken, only the sound of the crackling fire to fill the emptiness of the room. Eclipse stared into the fire studying it almost like it was trying to spell something out to him.

"Why are you here Spyro?" Eclipse asked finally turning his head towards the purple dragon. One of his eyes was a milky white while the other looked as black as the night sky. Spyro almost jumped back, he's never seen of such a thing happening to a dragon before. It was strange

"I'm here because Cynder asked me to see if you were okay." He answered stepping closer, Eclipse just turned back to the fire.

"Spyro, I've listened to a lot of people give false reasons for their actions. I can tell when someone lies to me, so tell me with complete honesty Spyro, why are you really here?" He asked again still with the same grim tone.

"As I said I'm here because Cynder asked me to. She just wants to know your okay and why you left us at the main hall without a single word." Another silence started between the two, Spyro stared into the flame. As he stared he realized that pictures were really on it's face slowly fading in and out, he recognized the figures in the pictures. They were a mix of Ardere, Frost, Aurora and some of a Darker Cynder. Instead of the Cynder he's seen, the pictures were of a smiling Cynder, a Cynder that seemed happy, yet it was the Cynder that terrorized the dragon race for 14 years and freed Malefor from the Well of Souls.

"Spyro, I can tell you're here with at least another reason." Eclipse told him grimly, "I know you're not lying, you're just not telling the complete truth."

"Eclipse, how did you get to Warfang?" Spyro finally asked.

"See how hard was that?" Eclipse replied.

"Harder than you can think." Spyro sighed.

"As for your question, you mind as well sit down. For I must start from the beginning

if this is to make any sense to you."


	5. Chapter 5

Spyro sat down near the fire, feeling the welcoming heat on his scales. Eclipse took a moment and stared blankly into the orange flame that danced before him. He let out a deep signed, looking to the wooden floor, he shivered then started."The curse broke while I was in a small village. I was... doing things that still haunt me months afterwards..."

 _5 months ago..._

The world was no longer a red place, instead it was full of colors, the colors of destruction that made out the landscape around him. The small village around him lay in complete shambles and its resident dragons either lay in pools of maroon blood or were tumbling against a wall. He felt himself slowly shrink as the world around grew larger. _Where am I?_ He asked in his head, he couldn't remember much of what happened before. The last thing he remembered was leaving a large floating island with a strange tower in the center. The dragons were now staring at him and have stopped shaking next to the wall. He looked down to his feet, his talons and surrounding scales are coated in red. The taste of metallic blood was still fresh in his mouth while the red liquid was dripping from his mouth. He nearly lost his entire stomach. _What have I done!_ He suddenly looked towards the closest group of dragons, the only group of dragons. Three small, young looking dragons surrounded by two large bodies of what he assumed was their fallen parents. He slowly walked towards them, two of them stood bravely in front of a smaller one. _Siblings? That one must be a dragoness or maybe the youngest._ He thought.

"Stay back!" One of them shouted in a shaky voice. Eclipse froze for a moment and lowered his head slightly, then slowly walked towards them. The sibling had bright red scales and his orange eyes were full of fear yet bravery at the same time. He stood tall against Eclipse as he looked at him. The dragon besides him was pale blue that reminded Eclipse of a icicle and white scales traveled all the way down his chest, disappearing as it went to his underbelly. He was also standing tall alongside his brother but was obvious that he didn't share his brother's seemingly unique bravery. The dragoness behind them was pure white and her eyes were the same pale blue color as her brother's scales. She was pressed against the wall both from her own fear and her brother's wings pushing her back. Eclipse stopped dead in his tracks again, looking at the red brother. "Just leave us alone! I'm not afraid to hurt you." The red dragon shouted at him.

"Please, tell me where I am." Eclipse desperately pleaded to them. Confusion seemed to travel across the group that stood in front of him. The dragoness pushed her brother's wings away and pushed past them, standing in front of them. The blue brother grabbed her tail but she pulled away from him.

"You don't know where you are? Why you do actually care?" She asked in confusion but in hesitation. _I understand why you ask._ Eclipse stated in his mind.

"Yes, I because I want this place to be remembered." Eclipse stated clearly. She looked to her brothers and they shook their heads. She turned back to him and stared into his eyes. He felt something click but he ignored it for he needed to focus on something more important. "I also need to know how to get somewhere."

"Where do you need to go?" She asked slightly leaning closer. _Should I trust them, should I tell them about Warfang? What if I do then they ask how I know of it? Would I need to tell them about the attack? About how I attacked Warfang and practically destroyed it?_ While he wrestled in his head the two brothers slightly eased themselves and walked next to their sister. They stared at him waiting for his answer. _Well I have to if I have any chance of getting there._ He sighed in his head.

"I want to get to a city named Warfang." He sighed "It's safe and I'll take you with me. I completely understand why if you didn't chose to follow me there but I'll keep my offer on the table." He explained to the group. They exchanged glances between each other, then the blue one spoke first.

"Warfang is far from here, across an ocean for that matter." He relayed to Eclipse, his heart sank with those words. _Across an ocean. Maybe if they don't follow me maybe I can get across using the wind but even then. I need to get to Warfang, I need to fix everything I did to this realm._

"I have to at least try. If I can't make it across and end up dying along the way then this world would have one less demon to endure." He told them.

"That's the fastest way to Warfang, across the Ocean of Scales but there's another way across the continent, that's all by land, but it would take a while to get there. Maybe 4 or 5 months at the minimum." The sister explained. _Well I guess I have my route. Now it's if they would follow me there.  
_  
"Well thank you and I'm…" He stopped and thought for a moment. _What do I say to them? I'm sorry I murdered your family and friends? I'm sorry that I made you homeless and orphans? Yeah like that would work._ "...I'm terribly sorry for everything I've done to you. If you want you can come with me then you're free to do so." He watched the uncertainty ran across their faces and for the third time the brothers exchanged glances. "Listen, I don't expect you to come with me or forgive me for that matter. I just offer you a place that you can be safe and be well cared for. You don't have to trust me but I trust you to make the right decision." He told them solemnly. It was an awkward silence between the two parties.

"I'll go." The dragoness stated then walked next to Eclipse. He stared at her in confusion and disbelief, the brothers certainly shared his expression.

"Aurora, what are you doing? He's not safe, he could be trying to kill us. We can't trust him after what's he's done to us!" The red dragon shouted. The blue dragon just nodded his head firmly in response. Eclipse sank his head, he understood the brothers concern too well.

The white dragoness, who Eclipse found out was named Aurora, sighed. "You two, for one if he wanted to kill us why hasn't he done it yet? He has us standing near of him, if he wanted to he could kills use all with one move. Two, we know about Warfang so it's not like he's lying to us about this safe city." She looked directly at the blue dragon in a stern manner. "Frost help me out here. Your smart, so tell him!" The dragon named Frost looked to the ground. "Frost at the very least come with us. You know as well as I do that we can't stay here, not now." She pleaded.

"Maybe you're right Aurora," The dragoness smiled. "but Ardere is right, he too dangerous and I honestly don't trust him." Frost replied and Aurora's smile faded. "I'm sorry Aurora but Ardere is right you shouldn't go with him."

"I'm going with him to Warfang and you honestly can't stop me. I don't like this either, but he at least promised something to us. We have nothing left here, but at Warfang we can start over. We can start a new life." She explained to them. Another silence followed as Eclipse waited for an answer from the two dragons. _I'll keep her safe, no matter what happens. Weather I make there myself or not I will protect her with my broken life._ Eclipse promised in his head as he looked at her. His eyes gazed across her looking at her beautiful white scales that covered her like a blanket of snow and the light blue scales that formed a single strip flowed from the base of her neck to underneath her. Her ice blue eyes seemed to sparkle which Eclipse liked so much already. _She's cute at least._ He confessed in his mind then he quickly realized what he just thought. _Wait, what am I saying! I shouldn't think like that at least no about her. I have someone else, right? Is she even still alive though?_ "Well? Are you going to come with us?" She asked.

"I don't like this," Frost sighed. "but we can't talk you out of this and I'm not leaving you alone with him. I don't trust him" He walked over besides Aurora and she smiled. Aurora turned to who he guessed was Ardere, the red dragon stood alone but strong as he stood across from them. A contest started between Aurora and Ardere, it was completely silent as they continued to stare at each other, neither of them showing signs of giving in to the other. Eclipse even looked between them to make sure they didn't turn into statues but they didn't even flinch. He looked at the blue dragon who just snarled at him then turned away, looking around the morbid scene around them.

Ardere finally sighed and looked away. "I guess I have to come with." He walked towards Eclipse and quickly whispered in his ear "If you hurt Aurora in any way imaginable, I will put you down faster than you can even think. Same goes with Frost and I honestly don't care what happens to you, just as long as you get us to Warfang in one piece." Then walked next to Frost and quietly started talking to him. Eclipse stared at him, sizing him up and looked for any weak spots in case it ever did boil down to a fight. He wanted to leave fighting other dragons behind with his dark self but in order to defend himself, he would do it again.

Later that day they started their journey to Warfang. At first it was uneventful, they flew most of the time only stopping to eat and sleep during the night, but the ancestors saw that only a month later would be when they would be attacked for the first of many times. Being forced to walk because of a devastating storm, that they deemed too dangerous to fly through, they were traveling through the forest that coated most of the inner regions. Ardere in the front, lighting the dark forest for the light from the sun was non existent. Besides the small flame and the second long lightning flashes, it pitch black under the tree canopy.

Eclipse walking the rear for a reason that he has long forgotten with Aurora and Frost in the center casually conversing between themselves. Thunder and lightning clashed over head with the rain falling hard onto trees and along their backs. Eclipse looked at the sky after another spark of lightning streaked across, followed shortly by a clap of thunder. His thoughts went to a memory of the past, where his past lover had disappeared and he has yet to hear from. After year three he began to think that she was dead and now he was almost certain. Though a small part of him still hung on to the chance that she was alive and was completely fine. He looked back down to the group of dragons in front of him, just missing a small shape jumping to another tree above him.

Between Eclipse and the others, Eclipse was forgiven by Aurora who understood him and the reason behind his horrid actions. Frost and Ardere didn't share that understanding and continued to distrust him, though he seemed to slowly be gaining their understandment. Eclipse had also discovered that only Aurora and Frost were related to each other and Ardere was just a close friend. Upon learning this Eclipse had mentally face palmed at the obvious difference between them and Ardere. Over the month it became more apparent to Eclipse that Aurora and Frost were related by them constantly fighting and bickering over some of the most smallest of things. Then he saw them wrestle each other to see who was right, he thought that Frost would win those little fights but it surprised him when Aurora would pin him down. With his thoughts wondering he failed again to notice the shimmer of movement in the overhead trees.

It wasn't until something dropped onto Ardere's back that he noticed the creatures in the trees. Ardere wiped around and grabbed the creature by the leg and through it into a tree. That's when they started dropping around them, surrounding them. Eclipse recognized them to be the grublins but they seemed to be more intelligent than most others. They held more advanced weapons that seemed to be made of metal than wood and even looked like proper weapons instead of just pieces of bits thrown together. Also small bits of animal hide covered their bodies as a kind of armor that they weren't known to use before but the most interesting thing about them though were their eyes, they were a glowing a bright purple. He turned around to be greeted by three of grublins thrusting their weapons into his face, forcing him to back up in order to not get stabbed by the metal blades.

He backed up into the other three dragons and turned his head to look at them. Ardere looked ready to light up the entire forest into flame, his muzzle seemed to be encased in the orange fire while he growled viciously. Frost was looking at the creatures in utter confusion but Eclipse could see the tiny blue glow and small snowflakes that formed out of the rain that flew close to his mouth. While Aurora was in pure terror, her eyes fixed on the weapons that were continually being shoved into her face. Her usually soft eyes were filled with utter terror. Eclipse could feel a small spark of anger that started to turn into a black flame.

He turned back to the three grublins and studied them trying to decipher what they were going to do. Trying to figure out the fastest way to kill them then quickly turn to protect the petrified dragoness. He heard Ardere unleash his flame behind him and all the grublins converged onto the group. He instantly snapped down on closest grublin almost swallowing his head and stabbed another with his tail blade, killing it instantly. Throwing one in his mouth into two others that were creeping up on Ardere from behind, he flicked the one on his tail into the sky. The third one stabbed Eclipse in the shoulder which resulted with Eclipse roaring in pain. Eclipse smacked the grublin with his tail, sending him into a tree where he was limply embedded into its side. He turned around and saw Aurora being surrounded by four grublins and raced to help her. As he was about to reach her he was shot in his side and tripped over his own feet. Before he hit the ground he was able to send a line of green acid onto the back of one of them. Killing the grublin upon impact and it crumpled to the ground. He looked to his side and quickly pulled out a crude looking arrow then jumped back up to his feet. He was immediately stabbed again from the other side, this time it was by a sword still in the hands of his attacker. He tripped the grublin with his tail then quickly stabbed the his blade into its stomach, quickly flicking the body into the small grublin archer. Catching the grublin in a vortex of wind, he launched it behind him. Unknowing to him, his mouth crept into a smile when the sound it's frail bones breaking against a tree trunk. He turned his attention back to Aurora and her assailants, he quickly dove into his blended shadow and raced across the distance. Rocketing up from the ground between her and the grublins, Eclipse quickly studied the grublins. He crunched down on one of the grublins throats then pushed another one away with a strong gust wind from his maw. The last one jumped on Eclipse's back and stabbed him with it's spear piercing his scales. He stabbed it through the back of its chest with his tail blade and quickly flung it away. As the last one groggily got up off the ground Eclipse stared it down, a slight flash of red shielded his eyes. THe grublins quickly turned around and disappeared into the dense forest around them. Then silence fell across their tiny battle field that was covered in both fire and ice. It was over, the bodies of their attackers lay around them, some burnt to a crisp black, some frozen solid like monuments. A few with bloody scratches and holes, as well as one with a bubbling green hole in the center of it's back.

 _That was fun!_ Eclipse laughed in his head. _Who's next?_ The dark side of him slowly started to take hold but it was quickly pushed out and mental locked away. Eclipse was starting to recognize the feeling of being pierced by a weapon and started to feel dizzy yet he fought it off and reached around to grab the sword in his side. Pulling it out, he saw his own red blood that coated the metal blade as well as run down his scales. It seemed so strange to see himself bleed, he even had to reassure himself that it was natural. The dark urge to taste his own blood tried to manifest itself into making him do it but he firmly resisted. He instead dropped the sword at his feet and looked back at the white dragoness. He gave her a faint smile then realized the tiny spear was still in his back, quickly dropping the wrongly timed smile. The dizziness becoming stronger, he staggered away from her and into the trees. He made sure he was out of eyesight before he started to use his shadow ability on the spear to absorb it making it disappear but leaving the deep gash behind. He made the dark mass fester in his cuts, slowly healing them, though it did present itself with a slight sting as it worked. He looked across himself looking for anymore cuts or gashes as well as any weapons still remained in him. He laid down on the hard grass and silently waited for his wounds heal, his thoughts drifting to tiny ambush and the times where he either ambushed or got ambushed in the past. He also remembered in which the grublins feared him and listened to him without a second thought. He remembered the metallic taste of blood in his mouth and the way it drove his darker self insane, how it made it crave the taste more and made it want to kill dragons with more intensity. It sent chills down his spine from his head to his tail, he mentally hoped he would never have to endure such a dark entity again. He looked to his side and he could still see the black mass festering in a cut as it continued its work.

The sound of bushes moving caught his attention away from the wound. Aurora came walking out and he instantly stopped his own healing to hide it from her, not wanting to scare her with his unique ability. A concerned look accompanied her face as she came closer to him, he gave her a weak smile and tilted his head to the side in a horrible attempt to look fine. "Your injured." She claimed softly. He looked back to his side and saw that the cut wasn't fully fixed and still largely visible. The same went for the other two punctures as he looked over the rest of his body. He turned back to her and continued to smile like nothing's wrong.

"I'll been fine. This will heal in a month or so, you don't need to worry about me." He explained keeping his smile though it did falter a little as the rain fell into the cuts causing it to sting with hard pain.

"Stop smiling like everything is fine, you're hurt and bleeding. I can see that you're also in pain." She retorted. He quickly stopped smiling but couldn't help but wonder in his head. _Why does she care about me? If anything she should still hate me.  
_  
"Aurora, I've been dealt worse. I'll live to see another day in this world. I just wanted to have some time alone and think to myself." He responded calmly though failing greatly.

"Eclipse just let me help you." She pleaded. _I still don't understand why she wants to help me._ He thought while staring at her as she slowly approached him.

"Aurora, why do you want to help me. I've done nothing good to you or for you." He asked her.

"Eclipse, you saved me from the grublins. I owe you that much. You also got shot and stabbed while trying to do so." She mentioned while motioning to the painful gashes in his side.

"You still don't owe anything to me. I was just doing what I thought was right. What did you think I was going to do, let you get attacked from four different grublins?" He asked her.

"I don't care if it was what you thought was right. All I care about is making sure you don't go one more minute in pain. So let me fix you up and then you can carry on about doing the right thing." Eclipse now noticed the small, brown leather bag that hung around her neck. Aurora then approached him and made him sit up. She opened the bag and revealed a green plant, he tensed up when her pull it out.

"What's that?" He asked her upon seeing the new plant. He looked upon it in utter confusion and slight fear that it was something bad. _It can't be something bad, she wouldn't do that. Would she?  
_  
"It's a special kind of herb that stops the bleeding as well as speeds up the natural healing process. This might hurt a little." She responded. He eased up a little but kept his eyes locked on her as she moved to his side and carefully started placing the plants in the cut. He winced as he felt the herbs being placed in the cut. She was right, it hurt quite a bit. The feeling was foreign to him, getting help from someone else. He also had to keep himself from jumping away and lashing out, his time under Gual and Malefor wasn't a good one. If he were to return to them, injured in any way, they would beat him mercilessly or place scorching metal in his open wounds. Then he thought of something that would be nice to lighten the grim mood.

"I think you might be killing me." He lied with a loud wince.

"Oh stop it. The big bad Eclipse can't take a little little." She joked but then realized who she was talking to. "I'm… I'm so sorry… I didn't mean to say that." She apologized.

"I-It's okay, Aurora. I know you meant nothing of it." He assured with a slightly saddened tone. An awkward silence started between the two as she silently continued her work. _Well good job Eclipse. You just made it go from bad to worse.  
_  
"Okay that seems to be fine, now to the next one." She muttered under her breath, moving to his back. The awkward silence continued as she brought the herbs out and started on his back. _What do I say now? Should I show her what I can do to with my element? No she'd never trust me again but if I don't and she finds out by herself then she won't anyway trust me. You know what I have to show her, that's what Cyn would want me to do._

"Aurora?" He asked turning his head to see her. He realized how white her scales actually were when he looked back, her snow white scales stood out against the dark back ground of the forest. _She looks like a white Moon Ray like that._

She peeked out from behind him and tilted her head. "Yeah? What is it?" _Can I trust her enough? Well I already have her attention and I trust her more than the other two at least. I would be saving her the trouble of wasting her plants on me._

"I want to show you something." He answered trying to sound confident but for the second time he failed terribly.

"What do you want to show me?" She asked moving to the side that still had a puncture in it.

"Just watch where the arrow embedded itself into my scales." He stated then closed his eyes. _Well here goes nothing._ Then he focused on the cut and started to use the dark magic. He could slowly feel the shadows fester in it. He heard her gasp upon seeing the element being used. The cut slowly started to close like nothing even happened or like it was being stitched up by a professional doctor. When it was fully sealed he stopped then focused on the two other gashes and turned to look at Aurora. Her face was full of shock and confusion, he also saw a small glint of terror.

"Wha-What was that?" She asked. He hung his head low so she couldn't see it. He could only see the moist ground and a small puddle that was left by the rain. Then her white paws came into view and he gave a great sigh.

"It was a ability that I was taught during my time under them." He responded grimly.

"How- What does it do? Doe's it fully fix it? doe's it hid the cut? I-I don't understand." She said leaning down to see his face. Her soft blue eyes looked up at him, waiting for an explanation of what she just witnessed.

"It does both really. Minor things such as paper cuts or shallow punctures are just fully fixed while things such deep gashes and bone fractures are hidden and naturally fixed. I don't feel the pain of when something such as rain hits them when they're all sealed," He explained. "Go ahead, say I'm some kind of monster or run and tell Frost and Ardere or do both even. You can do whatever you want with this information, I just thought to show you so you don't waste anything such as herbs or red crystals on me. You would only be wasting them when you could be saving them for later." He continued. A long silence followed, Eclipse still didn't lift his head. The sound of the splashing rain filled the air around them as he waited for a response or a physical reaction.

"I wouldn't do anything like that unless you wanted me to. This is something that you wanted to show me and me alone so I should respect that decision." She assured. He lifted his head to look at her. She was calmly in front of him and followed his head up as he raised it. The rain continued to pelt them as they stared at each other. He looked into her eyes and watched the rain run down her perfect scales. She looked even more beautiful in the rain and the smile she gave him made his heart skip a small beat. _Why do I feel this way about her? I can't be feeling this, I shouldn't be feeling this. I-I have someone else waiting for me right but what if I'm just lying to myself? These feelings will just hurt me in the long run but I can't help it.  
_  
"Aurora? Why did you want to come with me so quickly? I mean, you knew what I did and you saw what I did to everyone in your village. I still don't understand, you even went as far as defending me when Ardere challenged my claim to lead you to safety." He asked her.

"I don't know, you seemed to have changed. I mean, yes you changed, but it looked like a switch flipped off in your head. Like a dark presence over you just disappeared and left you." She answered. "Now come on, let's go to those two numskulls and get going again." She said in a happier tone then turned towards the direction she came from. He smiled then followed her to where she left the other two dragons. They were laying down with the same green herbs in their injuries. Ardere quickly got up and walked over to them as they walked out of the dense forest.

"Are we ready to go?" He asked, his eyes taking quick glances at Eclipse.

"Yeah, we should be. The question is are you ready to go?" She responded looking at the herb filled cuts. He gave a big cocky smile.

"Nothing can bring this guy down!" He exclaimed trying to look proud and tough at the same time. Frost snickered and Aurora started giggling. Eclipse couldn't help but smile when Ardere looked at her in a confused way. They continued moving that day with the storm still smashing down on them.

The group continued to walk on through the storm for the next two days before it finally broke and during that time they've been ambushed by different creatures almost 5 times. All fives times Eclipse was injured trying to keep Aurora safe, though he honestly didn't mind but he silently cursed himself each time he did it. The group was more then happy to leave the ground below them and get back to flying in the air. From then it wasn't till they were within a month's walk from Warfang until they were forced to the ground again by another devastating storm on this side of the continent.

"Here we go again, walking in the middle of a forest path with thunder and lightning over us. Anyone feel like dropping on our backs is free to do so!" Frost yelled in the thick canopy above, Aurora just laughed. Frost gave her a stern glare. "What?"

"Stop being paranoid Frost. You will only drive yourself insane." She said trotting by like she was royalty. Eclipse laughed as he also walked past the ice dragon.

"I agree!" Ardere yelled back to them as he led the way.

"I'm just saying! I mean it's like that night the first time. Am I the only one that can see that?" He called after them.

"Even a bright sign hanging over our heads, I know that nothing will attack us." Aurora called back to him, continuing to trot forward. Ardere was sent flying backwards towards the group, Eclipse was able push himself and Aurora to the ground just as the red dragon flew over their heads. Frost wasn't so lucky, Ardere smacked into him and together they smacked into a tree. Aurora quickly got up and ran to them and looked over them, they were unconscious and a dark purple bruise formed on Ardere's stomach. Eclipse began to growl at the direction in which Ardere came flying from ready to rip whatever came out to shreds. With a spark of lighting, out came a giant black dragon with a wicked grin. The dragon looked very familiar to him. He realized why the dragon looked familiar, it was him when he was Malefor's personal play toy. Fear surged through his body and chills followed straight afterwards, his mouth hung and he slowly backed up.

"Aurora, get them up!" He yelled back to her. Keeping his eyes locked on the lumbering dragon in front of him.

"I can't! They out cold!" She shouted back. She turned to see what he was facing and she nearly collapsed in fear herself as her eyes found the dragon. "Wh-What is that?" She said wide eyed.

The dragon laughed maniacally " **You should know me Aurora. It's the one true Eclipse, the Eclipse that sought to kill you. Now I found you and I can finally complete my mission.** " It said with a echoed voice.

"You won't touch her! Not with me still here!" Eclipse threatened his former self after finding the courage out of a threat to Aurora. He continued to growl at the dragon, trying to put as much of his fear magic into the growl, he silently hoped it would work on him. "You won't touch any of those three!"

" **You can't hope in killing me weakling, for I am apart of you. I am the real you, your future and your past.** " The dark dragon retorted with a laugh.

"You are no longer my future. My future sits with these three and not as a distorted puppet serving a dead master." He stated coldly. The dragon laughed again and stared directly at Aurora who now was standing in place like stone. Eclipse looked back at her then at the dragon in front of him. "If you want her then you need to kill me first!" He growled.

" **That can be quickly arranged.** " It said then hit Eclipse with its paw, sending him sideways into a tree. The tree cracked from the force of Eclipse and nearly fell over onto him. " **Now, back to the original plan.** " He said then started walking to the petrified Aurora. She started to crouch down trying to disappear next to her brother but it was no use. The dragon kept its eyes on her and she had no hope of beating him. Without Eclipse or Ardere to help her against the dark dragon, she had no hope of living.

" **NO!** " Eclipse shouted then slamed into the dragon's side with tremendous force, sending him backwards, nearly knocking a tree over. He growled deeply at the dragon as it got up. " **I SAID YOU WILL NOT TOUCH HER!** " His voice becoming echoed but he quickly adjusted it. "AS I LIVE SO DOES SHE!" He roared at the dragon menacingly, officially challenging him, and the bigger dragon roared back, signaling that he accepted the challenge. In Malefor's army, the dragons who did side with him tended to challenge each other for power over the other. Eclipse was challenged often, seeing as he held just as much power as Malefor himself. The Eclipse then never lost a challenge but now it was different, Eclipse didn't hold the same strength as a fully grown adult dragon. His magic capability have also shrank thanks to his change in physical size, Eclipse was at an extreme disadvantage. Even if he won, Eclipse would most likely die with the shadow from the past. _Today, I die for you._ Eclipse stood his ground, still growling at his opponent.

The dragon flew towards him but he jumped out of the way, landing on its back. He bit into the back of his neck which caused it to turn its head and grab Eclipse by his tail. He threw him into a tree but Eclipse quickly got up and ran towards the dragon. The dragon tried striking him with his tail but Eclipse ducked under and shot a stream of boiling green acid at him. The dragon leaned out of the way but Eclipse launched himself and more acid in his direction. The acid hit his chest and seconds later so did Eclipse. The force pushed him back making him skid across the ground, leaving marks in the ground from the dragon's claws. The dragon whipped his tail around and smacked Eclipse in the side of the head. The blade sliced a cut across the side of his forehead and Eclipse felt the sting of pain. Eclipse roared sending massive winds into the dragon forcing him back more. Eclipse jumped and landed on the dragon's head, started to skid down his neck digging his claws into the back of the dragon's neck making 6 bloody trails all the way to its base. He jumped off the dragon, in front of it, as he tried to turn around the dragon grabbed him in his mouth and squeezed down on him. Eclipse felt a massive surge of pain as the dragon's teeth dug into his underbelly and back. He twisted his head around and spit more green acid into the dragon's eye. The dragon roared in pain and dropped Eclipse to the ground, Eclipse collided with the ground with a loud thud.

" **YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT YOU LITTLE RUNT!** " It shouted dropping its hands from its eye which was now an empty socket. It flicked its tail and to stab him but Eclipse jumped out of the way. Eclipse stopped mid air and shot a ball of green acid at the dragon then hit the ground. The ball hit the dragon's chest but that didn't stop it for it knew where Eclipse would land and stabbed him through the chest, directly into his heart. The older dragon smiled down at the seemingly defeated dragon.

"NO!" Aurora screamed but Eclipse didn't falter, instead Eclipse just smiled back at the bigger dragon. He quickly pulled the blade out and started to produce a steady stream of acid at the dragon's chest, hitting it's mark, the acid started borrow into the dragon. The dragon roared in pain and proceeded to stab Eclipse in the chest continuously. Eclipse stayed strong though the massive surges of pain but that didn't stop him from feeling could feel the green stream as it was now eating the dragon's heart but Eclipse kept the acid coming and so did the brutal stabbings of the dragon. Slowly the stabs became weaker and there was a longer interval between them but they remained just as painful if not more. The dragon slowly started to lean forward, it's tail blade slipping out of Eclipse's chest and fell to the ground with a thud. The dragon then fell to the ground, Eclipse having to throw himself out of the way to avoid it the falling giant. The pain was now fully recognized in Eclipse's head and he felt ready to collapse, he almost couldn't stand back up. He turned to the scared white dragoness and gave her one was his signature fake smiles. He staggered towards her, with every step it became harder to walk. He started to use his ability to start healing himself, not caring if Ardere and Frost saw it, but not even the element could heal the amount deep gashes in his chest and the large amount of blood that he lost. His silver under scales now stained red with his own blood as it traveled down his mangled chest. The rain didn't help as it continued to pelt his back and drip into his injuries, which sent more stings of pain through his already pained body. "ECLIPSE!" He heard Aurora call out, she was running towards him. The world was turning black with every step and he unwillingly collapsed to the ground, but he couldn't get back up. His legs have given up on standing, all he could do is lay in the mud and fell the jabs of pain from both his internal injuries and rain. The world continued to disappear under a black curtain that slowly fell on his eyes. He fought to keep them open but at the same time he helped them, this how it ended for him. The last thing he saw before the world turned black was Aurora fumbling with the familiar green plants trying to save him. Then it went completely silent.


	6. Chapter 6

Empty...that was his mind...just...empty. Standing in and on nothingness felt strange to him and yet this is a place he traveled to many times. He gazed around but he was surrounded by just pure black. It was so silent, his head was just simply… empty.

Then a small picture appeared next to him, casting a bright light onto his black scales. It was a picture of Cynder, his only true friend when he was a puppet for Gaul. She was smiling at him, he could remember that day. It was one of the only days that she wasn't completely the 'Terror of the Skies' and he wasn't completely the 'Blood Dragon'. He touched the picture with his claw and it exploded into a million other, more smaller, pictures that shot across the room around him. He tried to slice another which was of the purple dragon Malefor, the purple dragon that he hated so much yet feared to a slightly greater level. He was the one that did this to him, he was the one that stained his claws red with blood of his own kind. His paw went through the picture but the picture started to move.

All the pictures suddenly converged into a single frame. They started to change at a rapid pace, changing pictures faster than he could see them. He then realized what was happening, he was watching his life right before his eyes, he was watching the complete fifteen years of his life. He felt sick to his stomach once it started to slow down showing him the helpless dragons that he slaughtered for two reasons, enjoyment and Malefor. He wasn't watching his life, instead he was watching the life of his darker side, the side that enjoyed the years it had to drink the maroon blood. Frame after frame he saw all the horrible ways that he murdered innocent, young, helpless lives. He saw things that would give almost anyone nightmares and now he was watching it all again. Then without him touching it, it suddenly stopped. The frame became two large rectangles, one of pitch black and one of milky white. They morphed into two doors, both of which had two pictures one on to of the other.

He silently walked to the large black door, knowing fully what it was and what awaited on the other side. One was a picture of an older Cynder smiling wickedly, the other was of his older self from the forest as he stared at Aurora with the full intent to kill her. "One less murderer in this world." He was about to walk through the black passage knowing that he would leave the land of the living, Aurora, Ardere and Frost behind but something stopped him, a single name that he made a promise to... Aurora. He looked at the black air beyond the door, feeling the slight chill and the wisps of death tugging at him to move on. He could hear the seducing tone of Malice as she called out to him, he simply smiled into the black abyss. "Not today, for today I finally have something to live for." He stated to the blackness then walked over to the white doorway. One picture was of when he showed Aurora his unique ability of self regeneration, the other of one of the many times that she smiled at him, that she was nice to him after everything he did to her. She was the first dragon that accepted him for who he was now and not then. She was the reason that he was here in this place, he would gladly come here again if it was for her, even if it meant being forced to walk through that black door. Those two memories were some of the most cherished ones he had, they were two of the few he had. They were some of the only ones that weren't of death and pure destruction, murder and pure extinction. "I have someone to live for." He corrected himself then walked into the blinding white doorway, back to the land of the living.

He opened his eyes and saw the sobbing wreck of the dragoness in front of him. "Please don't do this to me Eclipse. I can't lose anyone else, I can't lose you. Not after what you've done for me." She cried softly. Eclipse felt his body slowly start to become alive again. He could feel his senses slowly coming back to him, he felt the soaked dirt below him, the smell of the forest and dried blood flooded back into his nose, the colors slowly returned to his eyes turning the would back into a colored place, everything. The world was slowly coming alive with colors around him, the sounds were flowing into his ears again. He saw that Frost and Ardere were wide awake and standing up talking to each other behind her. Ardere noticed Eclipse's eyes open and looking up at him.

"Aurora look!" He said trying to get her to look at him.

"Ardere please, just let me grieve in peace." She pleaded but Ardere didn't stop shaking her.

"Look Aurora, look!" He shouted again.

"Ardere! He's dead and you treated him horribly! I cared for him Ardere, so please, don't make me look at him. I can't look at him like this." She pleaded to him still sobbing into the ground.

"Why...wouldn't you...wanted to...look at...me?" Eclipse weakly asked sarcastically. Aurora looked up, with fresh tears rolling down her cheeks.

"No! This is some kind of illusion, some kind of… dream. You're dead, you can't be laying in front of me alive, you just can't!" She insisted with more tears. She put her head back down into her paws.

"Aurora… It's... really me… Eclipse." He strained against his aching body. "I guess…we're…even." Aurora jumped on him and threw her arms around him in an embrace. Still sobbing into him.

"Don't you ever do that again! Promise me that you won't do that again!" She pleaded loudly.

"I…guess I...can do that." He promised to her. He smiled and looked at the two dragons in behind them. Frost looked on in shock, most likely at looking at someone resurrect themselves in front of his eyes. It's not something you see everyday after all. Ardere had a small smile on his face and nodded in his direction.

That night everything was calm, the storm had moved on, everyone was pushed the mysterious dragon behind them and everyone was fast asleep… except for a certain white dragoness. She silently got up and started walking through the woods. Out of earshot of the fire, she sat down in a small opening in the trees and looked at the shimmering stars above. The moons were lit brightly in the sky and shone down on the opening giving her light. Her white scales glittered in the moonlight, making her look like a new angel. "He almost died today… for me and the others." She stated softly. Unknowing that the dragon in question was silently watching and listening from the brush behind her. "He defended us when something stronger than him tried to kill us. I only watched as he was thrown around, stabbed and chewed on. He walked onto death's doorstep because of us. Maybe I should leave with Ardere and Frost, so he doesn't get hurt anymore. It's unfair of us to stay with him and make him fight for us when we can't even fight ourselves." She looked to the ground. "At least I can't." That's when he made his entrance, he silently walked over and sat down next to her. She didn't even flinch at his appearance and just continued talking to the stars above. "Yet at the same time he trusted me enough to show me his darkest secrets and share his nightmares of the past. I helped him through those nightmare but I can't help wonder why me?" She turned to him like she knew he was there the entire time. Her blue eyes full of curiosity and wonder, dazzled Eclipse almost sending him into a trance. "Why me Eclipse? I'm not someone who knows how to deal with these things. I mean, why do you trust me some much? I've honestly done nothing to earn this trust or for you to become my guardian angel, to literally die for me." She asked him. He looked up into the sky and silently thought about his answer.

"Maybe it's because, You stood by me even when you had no idea what my intentions were or maybe it's the way you looked at me but you trusted me from the beginning. So I trusted you. I showed you my abilities because I thought you had a right to know. I protected you because of a promise I made to myself about you making it to Warfang whether I lived or died on the way. Earlier today when that dragon came walking out of those trees, I mentally said to myself that 'today, I die for you.' I knew that I couldn't beat him without the cost of my own life. When It came to me choosing life or death, I almost chose death. I wanted to rid myself of this world so badly and fate gave my that decision. It tested whether or not I believed that in the end. In the end, I chose life because of you, I wanted to continue to keeping that promise." He explained looking back at the stars. "I thought that my complete death would just make this world better. A place where little hatchlings aren't going to bed fearing that they would wake up to a destroyed village. 'One less murderer in the world' I said in front of that black door, I fully knew what waited for me on the other side. Then my thoughts drifted to you, your amazing smiles that seemed to light the world, the times which that you helped me deal with the nightmares of my past, and you most adorable laugh when I would tell you a stupid joke. Your snow white scales that made me tell myself that everything was fine and your blue eyes that calmed me after a memory or nightmare. You're the sole reason that I'm still here in this world, sitting next to you and telling you this. If I hadn't met you or you were different, I would have walked through that black door. You are the only thing that I continue to live and fight for. " He smiled at her and she returned with a small smile. "I would fight that vision of the past again and again if I had to to keep you safe." He confessed. "I can tell you one thing, I think Ardere and Frost would just run with tails between their legs like those dogs." He tried, she laughed a little.

Silence stood between them as they looked at the sky above that was littered with the friendly light of the stars and moon. The stars were shining as bright as the full moon that stood out like light surrounded in the darkness. No clouds were in the sky and there wasn't any wind to carry them in to block the view. They looked at one another, his shining silver eyes stared into her twinkling blue eyes. Eyes closed, they leaned closer to each other and planted their lips onto the others. Eclipse felt all the weight of the world just melt off of his shoulders and his mind was put to complete ease. It seemed like every horrible memory of the past faded away from his mind like they were never there. This is where he wanted to be, this is where he needed to be. It felt like forever until the pulled away but when they did, they continued to stare at each other's eyes. Another silence followed between the two dragons remained, locked in place. Then Aurora broke it with three single words. "I love you."

"I love you too." He admitted then leaning in, kissing her again. She looked away from him and to the ground. With his dark, element of illusion he grew irises, roses and different kinds of flowers around them. She gasped then laughed as more flowers grew around her.

She watched as the beautiful flowers of pink, purple and white almost naturally appeared from the ground. She looked back up at the dragon who was causing this and he smiled gently at her. Eclipse then picked up an iris, her favorite flower, and spun it in between his claws. He then used his element to turn it into a necklace of flowers. She smiled at him as he put it around her neck and smiled back. She gave him another kiss and went back into the woods with him trailing behind her.

They returned to their small campsite and silently laid down next to each other, falling into a peaceful slumber. That was the first night in over fifteen years that no nightmares were present to terrorize Eclipse in his sleeping state. This was the one night where he could dream peacefully, no repeats of him tearing down villages or destroying dragons lives, killing families while young ones looked on or waving the body of a child in front of it's parents before they died. The next day they continued their journey now that they were able to fly, it shortened their arrival to a single week. They weren't attacked again as they remained in the sky for the most of the remaining trip, only landing to rest and eat just like before. Aurora and Eclipse kept to themselves when it came to their secret relationship, except for a few times when they slipped up but they quickly made a excuse. The week felt like a year to the young dragons but when they finally arrived, they were relieved to be at the city. They were relieved to have a safe place to sleep, to be able to eat without the fear of someone stealing it, to be able to walk without the fear of an were relieved to finally have a home again.


	7. Chapter 7

"That's the story. From the beginning to the end." Eclipse concluded. Eclipse hasn't moved his eyes from the fire since he started, the fire danced with memories from the trip here. It was silence, not that Eclipse expected for Spyro to be all up on him with questions.

"Wow." Spyro finally replied, breaking the uneasy silence. Eclipse laughed slightly and a small smile appeared across his face.

"You expected a different tale didn't you?" He asked with a small laugh. In his head the flame was now a picture of when Aurora laughed at one of his jokes. His smile slightly grew with the image but also faltered once he realized how coldly he pushed her away. _Was it the right thing to do? Should I have just let her follow me back? But what if it came back and I ended up hurting her._

"I expected something a little less… I don't know, sweet?" He answered

"Well not every story is a happy and lovey dovey. This story is no exception, if you wanted a fairy tale ending then you must be disappointed " Eclipse responded quickly, then he took his eyes off the fire and looked at the purple dragon. Spyro had a wide smile as well as his eyebrow raised. Eclipse knew what he meant and growled slightly. "Shut up!" He stated then turned back to the orange fire.

"You say that yet you and Aurora…" He started with his grin intact.

"Don't you say it!" Eclipse quickly cut off, the fire becoming pitch black. That didn't do anything to stop Spyro.

"...fell in…" He continued raising his voice as he teased.

"Spyro I sware to the ancestors, I will hurt you if you complete that sentence!" Eclipse tried. He stared at Spyro with menacing eyes using his own fear element to help him, Spyro laughed at him.

"Fine. I hope you realize who I traveled with for years, so your little fear thing doesn't work on me." He revealed smugly. Eclipse just huffed a puff of black smoke causing Spyro to laugh more at the him as the smoke as traveled out the open balcony door.

"Does it at least answer your questions?" He asked in an annoyed tone, the fire turning back to it's normal orange glow.

"Yeah it answers them and a little more." Spyro responded with a smile which only annoyed Eclipse even more.

"Good, now get out of here." Eclipse ordered motioning to the door. Spyro got up and was on the balcony when Eclipse spoke up behind him. "Spyro!" He turned back to the Eclipse. He was finally standing up and quickly walked over to him. "Don't tell Cynder or the others about me and her, okay? She wanted to us between me and her, I hope you can respect that I also want that."

"Yeah, of course." Spyro promised, though he knew that he couldn't. _The problem is, they already know._ He jumped off the balcony and into the air. He looked back at Eclipse's tower and noticed that no smoke was coming out of the small chimney. _How did he do that? The fire looks and feels like a real fire. I guess I'll find out at some point._ His head wondered on how Eclipse could create smokeless fire.

He landed in front of the infirmary with the intent on finding Cynder. He walked into the white building and saw only two dragons and a mole. None of the dragons were the dragon he was looking for but he still needed to talk to them. He walked towards them wondering why a mound of used red crystals was sitting next the the mole.

"She's going to try Aurora, so be careful around her." Frost warned Aurora as he approached. The mole scooped up the crystals and started to silently walk away from the two. Spyro stared at the mole as he walked by. The crystals didn't have the normal red glow that they usually have, instead they looked dull and didn't glow when he passed by. _What's with the red crystals? Did something else happen with Frost?_

"I wonder what I can do to try and convince her otherwise. She can't drive us apart, not after what happened. This is just plain selfish of her." Aurora sighed. Now Spyro was interested greatly, he sat down next to Aurora but stayed silent. As he sat down and the two immediately stopped talking about the topic before. "How's the cuts? Do they hurt anymore?" She asked calmly as if that's been the topic the entire time.

"They don't hurt as much as when the accident happened." He stated looking towards the wall in front of him. Spyro turned his head towards the wall in question and saw cracks that went throughout the wall. They centered onto a single spot in the center of the wall, which is where something must have hit.

"Okay. What happened in here while I was with Eclipse?" Spyro asked quite loudly as he turned his head back to Aurora and Frost.

"Well…" Aurora dragged out, walking to the opposite side of the medical bed. "... Frost kind of got taken over by that thing that affected Eclipse and Cynder when he woke up. He attacked Cynder and said that he was going to kill her and Eclipse would all his, whatever the last part meant. It boiled down to me having to push him off using the wind to push him off her because he was completely locked on Cynder trying to suffocate her to death." She quickly explained, closing her eyes as if bracing for something. Spyro was completely dumbfounded at the answer. Deep inside him, he wanted to kill Frost but he understood that the attack was not his own action.

"I guess we know it's goal now, it's to kill Cynder. " He said plainly. Aurora opened her eyes and stared at him blankly. Frost sharing the same expression Spyro began to explain to them. "Think about it. Cynder was the first one to be affected and it made her attack someone in broad daylight." He shifted his eyes to Frost then weakly smiled. Frost only frowned at him at his obvious, silent statement. "After that failed, it then went on to the closest dragon that could face her in a straight up fight which it decided was Eclipse." Aurora and Frost nodded. "After Eclipse fought it off, to my own amazement mind you, it waited any till it saw a chance to easily kill her. It then took Frost over and caught her off guard, if it wasn't for you Aurora she would most likely be dead and Frost would be a murderer with a murder he didn't commit." He finished and looked at the two dragons.

"You're right." Frost stated with a nod. "She's the target of attack, but I still don't understand, what is it and why does it want Cynder dead?" Frost asked

"That's something we would have to wait and see. Maybe it will say its name or why it's trying to kill her before it finishes her off." He said, trying to think of anything that happened during the two attacks it witnessed.

"It doesn't only want to kill Cynder." Aurora blurted out. Spyro and Frost looked at her in confusion.

"What do you mean? Yeah only one attack clear shows it wants her dead but once we piece it together it's really the only reason." Spyro pointed out to her. She groaned and looked at the ceiling for a split second. She looked back at straight at the confused purple dragon.

"When it used Frost to attack Cynder it made Frost say 'You will die you traitor. Then after you, Eclipse will be mine.' Yes, it wants Cynder dead but it wants Eclipse for something. It probably tried to take Eclipse so it could kill two birds with one stone, kill Cynder then fly Eclipse to its source. What ever this thing is I knows about the war and wants to claim Eclipse, undoubtedly for the same thing he did for Malefor. " She explained, Spyro was suddenly deeply afraid when she finished.

He knew exactly who it was attacking them. _It all makes sense now. Cynder betrayed him, that's the reason for wanting to kill her. Then he want's Eclipse so he has an experienced general or assassin for when he makes his reappearance to the world. It makes complete sense._ Then he realized what he was saying in his head. He unknowingly began to back away for the two dragons. _NO! NO! NO! HE'S DEAD, locked away by the fallen purple dragons! HE can't return. The Well of Souls collapsed, all of the recent dragon eggs have been in the hatchery here in Warfang, all the apes were killed when the Well of Souls collapsed and the grublins are too dumb to resurrect him._ Eclipse's story about when they first were attacked dawned on him, it made him even more terrified. _It makes too much sense! The grublins would want the fallen king back so they could get what they promised. After he came back then he would want Eclipse to be returned to him and Cynder dead. Yet he couldn't come back after a month of being locked away… not alone. The grublins must have somehow figured out how to either make him stronger or free him all together. This… this is surely impossible, I'm just over thinking this. He's just sitting in the spirit realm not doing anything and something else is invading people's heads which want Cynder dead. Okay? Okay! Next tell Cynder that she's the target and should be more careful when doing things alone or all together until we can end this thing. Okay? Okay, let's go._ He quickly ran out and jumped into the air. Then realized to ask them to see if they know where Cynder went or is. Running back into the room they pointed him into the direction of Eclipse's tower. _Amazing! I have to fly back to the same spot where I just was not even 15 minutes ago._

He landed on Eclipse's balcony and entered the room. The fire was still going and Eclipse was laying down in front of it. Cynder was next to him talking softly, only the orange glow of the fire was there to light her face, for the sunlight still only barely reached into the room and it was midday. As he approached Cynder let out a great laugh and he faintly smiled. _At least nothing the recent events hasn't negatively affected her, or Eclipse is just really funny._ He thought between the two possibilities. _It's most likely the first one… hopeful, because I'm much funnier than him… right?_ He mentally asked himself.

"Hey." He said drawing their attention. Cynder still had a smile on her face, she seemed to be holding back more laughter. Eclipse was suffering the same as he was smiling with his teeth clearly showing. Spyro almost started laughing because of this but firmly suppressed the urge. "Can I borrow Cynder for a minute?" He asked.

Cynder looked at Eclipse still with her smile and he started to silently laugh again. "Yeah sure." Cynder cheerfully agreed getting up. "I'll be right back." They walked onto the balcony that looked over the city. Spyro closed the glass doors behind him and walked next to her.

"Okay. I got good news and bad news." He clearly presented her.

"Start with the bad news, mind as well get it out of the way." She replied, quickly dropping her smile and looking to the city. Spyro thought on how to ease this fall.

"Let's see, you ready?" He asked, she nodded in response. He breathed out, "So the thing that's happening with the mind control. Me, Aurora and Frost have decided that you are the target, meaning that this creature or sickness wants you dead." He saw her eyes quickly widen in response and her mouth open. He quickly blocked it with his paw and continued. "I know what you're going to say, we very well could be wrong and this thing just makes people really aggressive but," He said looking straight into her eyes, "It said that you were a traitor and it wanted to you to die. At least that's what I heard from Aurora, I'm took her word on it but I want you to still give me your answer." He explained carefully. Cynder's eyes returned to normal and she claimed down. He lowed his paw away from her mouth and let her speak.

"Spyro, you're basically saying that whatever this thing is, it's that it basically is a Malefor." She stated.

"I know but it might not be. It might be something that changes the victim's mind set. You betrayed the dragon race when you were the Terror of the Skies so that could be it." He explained easily.

"I guess you could be right." She agreed. "So what's the good news then?"

"Well Frost is fine and as you could see, Eclipse is fine." He told her and her smile returned. He then remembered what he wanted to see her for originally "Wait! So about your plan for Eclipse and Aurora." Her smiled dropped again and she looked at him concernedly.

"Is something wrong, do they know? What is it?" She said quickly.

"One yes Aurora knows about your whole scheme." She grimaced slightly. "Two, I don't think you should go with it." He explained

"Why is everyone saying that!" She yelled.

"I agree with everyone else, it's not right Cynder, your being completely unreasonable. Ask Eclipse what his time getting here was like and l-i-s-t-e-n to him. Once you do, then think about what you are thinking about doing. After that if you still want to go through with it then go right ahead because I'm not helping you." He claimed. He then quickly went to the edge of the balcony and jumped into the sky. Leaving Cynder watching him angrily on the balcony, he heard her screaming at him from below

"Spyro! Get back here! Get back here this instant!" She screamed but he didn't turn back.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N Quick Update! I think. I would quickly like to thank the 4 people who told me of the incident with Chapter 6, V-SxC, Bryan Mccloud, MCZ and a anonymous Guest. Thank you for letting me know of that glitch. Also thank you to Jagger Dorulu Wilderness for letting me use his dragon go OCs who have made small mentions in the story but I do plan on at LEAST one of them make an appearance (Props to anyone who can guess how they will make an appearance). Until next time folks, ENJOY!**

After talking with Frost for what seemed like hours, Aurora decided to leave him and explore their new home. It was only her second day here and she was already accustomed to some of the city but she always loved to explore. She wasn't really paying attention for her thoughts wandered into many different places as she walked the streets. _I wonder how the city could withstand so many attacks? It must have been attacked so many times during the war but it seems like the war never happened._ She walked through the gardens and peered at all the colorful flowers. From red to blue, purple to yellow she thought it was quite beautiful, which forced her mind to change course. _I wonder why Eclipse hasn't given me a flower? I mean yeah he did give me that one flower necklace and it would be kind of cheesy to present a bright red rose to me but it would be sweet none the less_. _Now to think of it, what's Eclipse's favorite color? He never answered my question about that._ She wondered. As she was looking over the flowers Ardere came flying down next to her.

"Hey Aurora. What are you doing?" He asked her.

"Just thinking and walking, nothing exciting." She stated to the red dragon continuing down the stone path. "It's not like we know the city well enough to know where any attractions are anyway." She explained.

"How's Frost doing? I heard that something happened in the infirmary while I was gone." He asked. She turned her head to look at him.

"He's fine now and yeah, the thing that hit Cynder and Eclipse tried it on Frost. He ended up trying to kill Cynder. If I wasn't there Cynder would probably be dead right now." She answered with a slight sigh.

"So, what I'm hearing is that," He smiled slightly "Frost is getting a little forward with Cynder now?" He joked. Aurora laughed then Ardere followed shortly afterward.

"Okay, not appropriate." She announced, slowly losing the laughter. Ardere continued laughing and Aurora smiled.

"You're right but it was a good joke. You can at least admit that." He replied

"Fine, it was a good joke. Now what did you need, it's pretty obvious that you want something from me." She asked.

"What if I just want to spend some time with one of my best friends." He objected with a small smile. Aurora just glared at him with raised eyebrow. Ardere gave a deep sigh and conceded. "Okay, I just wanted to know if you would allow me to take through the gardens but you already beat me to the punch."

"Well I haven't gone through the rest of the gardens so I'll take you up on your offer BUT it's not a date and if you start trying to make moves on me I will send you into the sky faster than you can say 'wait'. Am I clear?" She insisted, trying to look down on the taller dragon.

"I never intended it to be a date. So I hear you loud and clear ma'am!" He answered with a silly salute. Aurora giggled and started to walk forward, Ardere closely behind. They toured the gardens and stopped many times to stare at some of the natural sights. They talked along the way also, which bounced from topic to topic. Aurora was amazed at how big the gardens were and by how many flowers she was seeing for the first time. One that she preferably liked was a flower that had petals of red, blue and purple. She told Ardere and as he went to pick it a mob of butterflies suddenly flew into his face. Aurora laughed at the dumb expression on Ardere's face once it became visible after the butterfly attack. Aurora heard someone else laughing and when she turned to the laughter she was faced with a familiar pink dragoness. She was about the same height was Aurora yet she somehow seemed older than her. The dragoness's eyes were a shade of blue that Aurora has only seen on flowers and the end of her tail had a darkred heart on it. The pink dragoness noticed that she was being looked at and spoke.

"Hello, my name is Ember. I just wanted to formally introduce myself since I didn't the first time we met." She cheerily revealed.

"Well then, hello Ember. You must know my name and that confused dragon over there is Ardere," She told with a small laugh for Ardere was now staring at the now completely yellow flower in utter confusion. "and you're right you didn't introduce yourself but then again we instantly started talking about our journey here."

"You never did tell me where you guys came from" Ember questioned

"It wasn't just us three, we had another with us who is currently in the infirmary, we came from across the continent." Aurora answered

"That's such a long trip! How did you guys make it." She wondered

"With help from one of our friends, Eclipse-" Aurora began but was cut off.

"Wait. Do you mean Eclipse as in the Eclipse that has black scales and silver eyes?" Ember asked rather quickly.

"Yeah, the same one that you met the other day. The one that I sat next to, that was Eclipse. Right, Ardere?" She called back. She grunted when she saw that he was being mobbed by more multi-colored butterflies but couldn't help but laugh a little at the panicking dragon. "Anyway I thought you would have made the connection sense you know what he looks like?"

"Cynder used to talk about him with me all the time. She said that he was cute and he was sweet but also that sometimes that he would protect her from all those nasty apes and sometimes even Gual himself. Now imagine that, the dragon you love risking injury all for you" Ember sighed contently. "I hope one day Flame would do that for me." Aurora only looked at the distressed, multi-colored Ardere and thought back on that fateful day. That day where Eclipse threw himself into an opponent that he very well knew he couldn't defeat. The day where she watched him in real combat, the combat in which he excelled at, the combat that he wanted to throw away. The day in which she watched him die for dragons that treated him horribly and also when she realized how much she truly cared for him. Aurora will never forget that day for it was both the saddest and happiest day of her life. Ardere being attacked as well as Ember's words made her almost zone out into that dreadful memory.

Without even thinking, she muttered. "Believe me, you don't want to hope for that." She said it in a shallow voice, barely above the sound of her own breath, but Ember seemed to have heard it quite clear.

"What do you mean? I think it would romantic." She claimed.

"Ember, believe me when I say this, you don't want to hope for anything of that nature." Aurora uttered turning back around to face Ember.

"I don't understand." She responded with a puzzled look on her face. That's when it all to just flowed out.

"Of course you don't understand! You don't understand what it could very well mean as far as who the winner of that fight is or what happens after it!" She yelled, already a small tear rolled down her face. Images of the fight between Eclipse and his past self started to play in her head. The sound of the tree cracking under the force that the dragon sent Eclipse with occupied her ears."Before I saw it, I wished for it too. I wanted to have the dragon I loved come in like a knight in shining armor and defeat the villain as in the fairy tales, believe me I did, so desperately I did. Then I saw it happen, seven times Ember! Seven times bloody times I saw the dragon I cared for, throw himself at things that wanted to hurt and kill me!" The tears was now rolling in a steady stream as the scene was playing in her head as vividly as if cruel deja vu playing it right in front of her. The sounds of the roars of pain, the sizzling sound of acid as it burned away both scale and flesh, the sound of crunching bones as Eclipse was crushed between the dragon's jaws, the loud thump of when that beast of a dragon hit the ground. "Then the seventh time, I watched him fight furiously to protect the dragons he barely knew, two of which treated him horribly until that day. I watched in horror as blow after blow he received and he just continued going at it. I watched, unable to do anything to help because I was selfishly paralyzed with fear for my own life. I watched him, sitting next to my brother and best friend who lay unconscious as he spilled blood and also lost his own," She started to sob lightly for the images played over and over again. The last word played over and over and over again which was her own name. The scene in which he called out her name then fell to the ground in his last breaths replayed itself, taunting her with the sight of Eclipse all bloodied and hole ridden. The horrible sound of him falling to the ground rang through her ears as if it just happened. "I selfishly watched as he tried to walk to me, as he tried to reach out to me. I watched as he gave me the weakest smile like everything was okay, that it he was going to be okay. Then he collapsed to the ground with almost two dozen holes in his chest. I was next to him trying so desperately to keep him with me, to keep him giving me his goofy smiles, to keep him making me laugh every time he would tell his bad jokes to me, to keep his comforting presence whenever he was around me. I listened to him as he uttered his last word, which was my very own name and then in a blink of the eye he was gone. I felt his last breath leave him and I held him in my paws, wishing for him to come back or for it to be a joke in order to cheer me up or something. The scene that was laid before me that day shattered my heart into a million pieces. So believe me when I say this Ember, because I say this with all too much experience, you never want to hope for that." She warned. Ember looked at her in utter shock and remorse as she realized how wrong such a wish truly was. Aurora could feel the gaze of other dragons lodged on her, waiting for her next words. She turned her head around to see that Ardere was staring at her wide eyed for he knew what she meant perfectly.

"I'm… I'm so sorry Aurora. I...I...I didn't know." Ember apologized trying to find Aurora's now hung head. The image of a dead Eclipse was still sitting in her head still as stone, just like him that day. The sound of his fleeting heart beat slowly faded out, the feeling of her destroyed heart seemed to fully revive itself. She forced herself to stop crying, to stop the tears that trickled down her cheeks. "What was his name, if you don't mind me asking." Ember innocently asked.

"I got lucky Ember, I got so stupidly lucky. He was given a chance to choose whether he lived or died. Even then he almost chose death because he believed that this world was better off without him. I got lucky that he chose to live, I got lucky that it was a true choice and not some cruel trick by the ancestors." She answered getting herself under control. "I honestly don't know what I would do without Eclipse, he showed me what it meant to truly love someone, he showed me what it meant to give your life for someone and I will forever be in his debt for what he did that day and before. So cherish the dragon you love for in a split second they could be taken away."

"Aurora. I...I never knew. I...I...I'm sorry that you had to watch that." Ardere stated behind her as he put his paw on her shoulder.

"Of course you wouldn't know because we kept our relationship a secret from you guys and you were unconscious during the fight between them." She answered solemnly.

"I guess Cynder was right when she said he protect her with his life. Thank you for making me see the truth about such a wish. I only wish that everyone would get as lucky as you did with Eclipse." Ember sighed.

"Aurora do you want to stay in the gardens? It's fine if you don't want to, I completely understand if you don't." Ardere carefully asked.

"It's fine Ardere, besides nature seems to calm me anyway." She answered in a slightly happier tone.

"Well I best be off. I don't want to crowd you two and I'm sorry for bringing it up Aurora." Ember decided then started walking past them. Aurora watched her walk away until she went around a bend that she couldn't see. She turned back towards Ardere then started walking down the opposite path. Aurora and Ardere spent the rest of the day in the gardens exploring them. Even though Aurora never truly forgot the conversation with Ember, she enjoyed the rest of the tour with Ardere.

Cynder screamed at Spyro as he rudely abandoned her on Eclipse's balcony with the same words as she got from everyone else. _Well now I need to talk to Eclipse about his trip here so I can apparently understand why my plan is so selfish._ She angrily stared at Spyro until he was no longer visible. She let out a heavy sigh then walked back into the room where Eclipse has been silently waiting in.

"So you want to hear the story? So you can understand about why your plan, whatever it may be, is wrong?" Eclipse asked out of nowhere, staring into the dancing flame. Cynder looked into the flame to see that Eclipse was staring at images that appeared and disappeared across it. She also noticed that the flames has changed color from the last time she saw it, it was now a dark maroon compared to the orange it was before.

"How did you-" She began but was cut off.

"Cynder, do you forget what I did for him. What powers I taught him, that I created for him? If you do then I'm disappointed in you." He explained calmly

"Oh," She then realized what he meant." well then. Now go ahead on tell me this story that I so desperately need to hear." She deadpanned. Eclipse then let it all out, from when he first changed back to when he was outside Warfang. As he was telling his story Cynder slowly started to understand. She realized where she went wrong, especially when Eclipse told her the fight between him and a shadow of his former self. That fight he told every single detail he could remember, from the way that Ardere came flying out of the brush in front of him to how his mind was when he was given the finally decision between life or death. "Um, yeah. I wanted a story that would change my outlook well I got one, that's for sure." She finally stated after he was done. Eclipse stared at the fire the rippled and danced in front of him. It has changed to a deep blue, along with the black dragons expression.

"Do you think that if I walked through that black door, that maybe all this crazy mind control thing wouldn't have happened?" He wondered aloud.

"NO! Eclipse don't think like that. It would've still happened, it's not your fault that all this has happened" Cynder assured him.

"Are you sure about that. That if I left the world that day that this wouldn't have happened, you wouldn't be in danger of being killed by anyone at any moment, that Frost would be walking around this city instead of in a hospital bed recovering from injuries, that just this world would be a much happier place?" He asked with his saddened tone.

"Eclipse! None of this is your fault." Cynder restated.

"All the lives I've taken, Cynder." Eclipse continued

"That was not you! All of that within those 15 years was not you by any stretch of the imagination. Those lives are not on your claws."

"But they are Cynder! Every. Single. One." He retorted.

"Eclipse, think about what you're saying!" She pleaded

"For 15 years Cynder, I devastated the dragon population. For 15 years I killed countless dragons. Young and old, boy and girl, parent and child, for the 15 years that was my life I killed everyone that I could find. All for pure evil enjoyment." He answered

"Eclipse! Those 15 years was not you. It was your darker side, not you." She continued

"I still remember the taste of dragon blood Cynder, I still remember what it was like to kill dragons, I still remember what it felt like to be a monster." He stated. "I should've walked through that door."

"Eclipse! Just stop it. Don't say that. You have Aurora, Ardere, Frost and me to think about." She told him. He continued to blankly stare into the blue flame as he didn't answer. Cynder looked on in caution as he stared into the flame.

"Well I already made my decision on what door to walk through and I think Aurora liked my choice." He sighed with a small smile with made Cynder laugh a little.

"I think she liked it too." She related. An awkward silence followed though it didn't last long. Then curiosity took over Cynder's mind. "Why did you move on so quickly Eclipse?"

"Cynder," He replied silently but she didn't hear him.

"I mean in 4 months you forgot about me?" She continued.

"Cynder," He tried again slightly louder but again she didn't hear him.

"Did you just not love me as much as I thought you did?" She asked.

"Cynder." It fell onto deaf ears.

"Were just using me?" Eclipse snapped like a twig. A part of him wanted to punch her, a darker part wanted to kill her but the sensible part just yelled at her.

"YOU WERE DEAD!" He yelled, finally getting her attention. The look of pure fury was in his eyes but he knew better than to lash out on her. "Malefor showed me your body. He showed me what happened at Convexity. He showed me that Spyro did to you… but now I see it's a lie. I still had a little hope that you were alive. That somewhere you were alive and looking for me, I really did but time went on. You were nowhere to be seen and the hundreds of search parties I sent out came up empty. The first thing I asked Malefor when he returned was to show me what happened to you then he showed me everything, but now I that he twisted it to make me more dangerous. To make me have something against Spyro instead of just an order to kill him. Until I died that day, until I realized how I felt for Aurora and even until I kissed her, I still had hope. I silently hoped that we could find one another and pick up where we left off." He explained and he could see the shamefulness on Cynder's face. "I didn't forget about you and I loved you very much and I would NEVER ever, use you, even when I was evil. I want you to understand that it was hard for me to let go but I accepted that you were dead and I would never see you again. I forced myself to move on." He tried but she didn't respond. Another silence followed only being broken by the crackle of the fire. Eclipse was thinking that he just ruined an chances on being friends with her. _I ruined everything. Why couldn't I have just waited a bit longer. Then things would be better… would they._

"I-I-I forgive you. I understand now and I'm fine with it." She finally responded but that didn't stop another silence. After the fire changed colors again, from orange to red then back to orange, Eclipse asked about how Warfang was. They continued talking about general things neither of them not bringing up anything about the journey here. They were just happy to be able to talk face to face and be able to be relaxed. They haven't done such a thing in what seemed like eternity. It's been years since they were able to just sit and talk to each other about common things. Of course Eclipse told jokes that he has gotten rather good at telling in his opinion(not really though) and Cynder continued to laugh at them. Only once did the topic of how they escaped from their dark hold come up but they easily conveyed it to each other, it wasn't like when either Spyro or Aurora asked them of their past but rather just talking about a normal day. To them, the questions that seemed so hard to answer became question that they seemed to have answered everyday. Cynder also brought up the topic of Eclipse and Aurora with a smile, Eclipse quickly changed the subject to something else. He got his revenge for it when he asked her about her and Spyro's relationship. He quickly changed that subject after a quick slap across the face and an enraged Cynder. To them it was too short of a day because before they knew it the sky was full of stars and a shining moon. Behind them stood a patient Aurora who flew in to remind them about the dinner being served in the main hall.

The trio walked through the streets of the dragon city when Aurora mysteriously stopped and collapsed to the ground. She started to roll across the ground in a ball and held her head in her white paws.

"It's happening again Eclipse! It's trying to gain control over her." Cynder exclaimed once it became clear what was happening. Eclipse was dumbfounded once he too realized that Cynder was right. He couldn't understand why this was happening to Aurora out of any of them, she was too sweet, too innocent. He looked on in horror, unable to move or even think clearly. "You gotta help her through it, you know she can't hold it off on her own." Aurora was holding her head in her paws and was mumbling something Eclipse couldn't understand. He wanted to leave these things behind, the things he created for Malefor and for his sole purpose to him. His ability to walk into the minds of others and drive them to complete insanity, it was never something that was pleasant and never felt correct. It seemed that whenever he wanted to forget one of these dark abilities from before he would need to use it again. Even though this was something that was good, Eclipse still wanted to leave it behind him. He closed his eyes and pictured Aurora in his head at the current moment. He started to hear what was in her head and he began to feel very, very cold.

 _ **Let me in Aurora, you can't hope to push me out.**_ The voice stated. Eclipse could feel the struggle that she was having with the mental intruder. _No! You will not hurt Eclipse._ Aurora mentally screamed at the voice. Eclipse listened to the arguing between the two. He physically took a deep breath but mentally grabbed the voice, he slowly started to pull it out of Aurora's head and into his own. _**WHAT! No I'm too close to breaking her! Let go of me you useless pawn!**_ He mentally felt the voice trying to escape but he held it firmly in his own mental grip.

 _YOU ARE MY PROBLEM! NOT HERS!_ He screamed at the voice as they entered Eclipse's mind. He let go of the voice and it started to take him over. _**Fine, then I'll go straight for the prize then!**_ Just like before his head started to hurt and he held one of his paws to the his side of his head. _Who or what are you? I demand to know!_ He shouted in his head, still holding strong against the voice's mental attacks. _**You're not in a place for demands are you, Eclipse. I am in your head and not the other way around. You have no control over me.**_ It answered with a laugh, he could feel it smile. _Oh but I am! I can hold you here for as long as I want! So tell me now! What are you?_ The voice went into an eerie silence but its attempts to hijack Eclipse's body didn't stop. He began to wonder if the voice was afraid of giving up its identity but that was short lived. _**I'm quite saddens me that you don't remember me, old friend. We were the best of friends you and I**_ _._ It claimed with a small laugh. _I don't know you!_ Eclipse protested loudly and again the voice went silent followed by the mental attacks. _**Oh yes you do, you just don't want to admit it!**_ It insisted. Eclipse was confused upon this answer. _**C'mon Eclipse, you should know me. I was your best friend for 15 years now.**_ Then it hit him like a sack of bricks. The voice was right, he didn't want to admit it but he needed to so he could figure out its source. He wanted to know for sure. Eclipse knew his next words to the voice would most likely be his last before their next encounter, so he decided to make it interesting. _Your desperation is impeccable Malefor. I'm honestly quite surprised you've used such much of your precious energy on the weaklings around me and Cynder. All to kill her and try to get me back._ He mockingly whimpered towards the end and put on a mental smile. _**Getting a little dark with me I see, very impressive considering your outlook on your past but I can sense your true fear though my dear Eclipse, for I know all about you and your new friends.**_ He presented to Eclipse. _You don't know me Malefor, I've changed much since you last saw me._ Eclipse corrected. Malefor gave a laugh at his seemingly unfunny correction. _**I've been watching you Eclipse, in fact I fought you. Remember that dragon you fought so unselfishly for your friends?**_ True terror now surfaced when he mentioned that battle, Eclipse couldn't hide from it now. He was truly afraid of Malefor now. _**AH, so you do remember for that dragon was me! I was the one who knocked Ardere and Frost unconscious, I was the one who threaten Aurora and I was the one who killed you that day. You can't deny it now Eclipse, for I have returned and I will succeed this time by playing dragons on dragons. You can't stop me and neither can that weakling Spyro with his pretty little traitor Cynder. I will finally complete my destiny.**_ Eclipse started to feel Malefor slipping away from his grasp. He tried to grab Malefor again as he slithered away but he continued to leave Eclipse's mind. _**Maybe I'll see you soon but until then ta,ta.**_ Then he left, Eclipse could feel the emptiness in his head now. He didn't notice that he was on the ground, rolled into a ball with his front paws over his head. Cynder and Aurora were looking down at him in worry as they couldn't do anything to help him.

"You okay Eclipse?" Cynder asked helping him up.

"Yeah I'm fine. I know who's attacking us. I need to find Spyro, I need to talk to him." He answered starting to run towards the main hall with pure determination. Cynder and Aurora exchanged glances then rushed after him.

When they entered the main hall Eclipse immediately scanned the room for the single purple dragon. He found Spyro across the room, talking with a red dragon and pink dragoness who looked fairly familiar but he didn't care about them right now. He began walking over quickly, Cynder and Aurora quickly on his heels. As they approached the red dragon looked at him with a confused look and the dragoness gave a strange happy smile. Spyro turned around as Eclipse was right up upon him. Eclipse quickly leaned down and quietly whispered into his ear. "Come with us now. We need to talk... in private." Spyro looked between Aurora and Cynder who just nodded their heads.

"Okay, I know a place." He answered with a nod. He turned to the two dragons across from him. "Flame, Ember, I'll be right back." He got up and lead them out of the hall through a different door. It turned out to lead to the hall's own garden but Spyro continued walking. He showed them to a hidden section of the garden which was hidden behind a rock. This hidden spot was small but it held its own pond as well as a small flower patch. "What happened, because between the three of you I can gather that something major has happened."

"Aurora was," Eclipse looked to the white dragoness who shamefully hid her face. "she was mentally attacked on our way to the hall." Eclipse explained.

"I can see why that's important but not as important as you presented to me." Spyro stated. "No offense to you of course Aurora."

"None taken." She replied.

"That's not why I asked for us to speak in private. When I captured the voice in my own head," Spyro suddenly put on a look that both said he was confused and surprised. He looked at the two dragoness's and they shared the same expression. "it revealed itself to me, not as a image mind you but as something worse. This information is why I wanted to speak in private." Eclipse continued, he looked at the water which was behind Spyro and let out a deep breath. "It revealed its true name to me, I only got it to tell me that before it left." He looked straight towards the confused Cynder behind him. It seemed like he passed a silent message to her as she instantly took a step back, eyes wide in shock.

"No, Eclipse, don't play these games with me." She uttered slightly backing up from him.

"We know the voice all too well Cynder and believe me it's true. I haven't lied to you before and I won't start now." He looked back to Spyro, his face filled with confusion but he could see the horror slowly creeping up on him. "Malefor has returned."


	9. Chapter 9

It's been almost two weeks since Eclipse released that Malefor was alive to Spyro and the others. The mental attacks have continued ruthlessly and each time he could, Eclipse has pulled him from the dragon's mind and tried to extract any information out of him but to no success. After the first week it became known to the group that Malefor's main targets have mostly been Eclipse, Cynder and Aurora, which both scared and surprised them. To make sure that no one was successfully taken over Eclipse taught both Aurora, Frost and Ardere to how to successful fight him off. Then both him and Cynder feared that one of these days that he will take one of them over so they decided between themselves that they should stay close to each other. They were the only two who had the capability to willingly hold him in their minds, while Eclipse was the only one who could drag him out of others. If it ever came down to it, they could bring the other out of Malefor's control. Spyro wasn't informed of this decision and neither was anyone else so they naturally began to wonder why they spent so much time with each other. Of course Spyro only began to grow jealous of Eclipse because of this unexplained quality time with one another. This jealousy only weakened his mental defenses against the constant mental attacks. Though this day was different, Malefor hasn't showed himself when it came to him attacking them. This both scared and relieved Eclipse, he was happy to finally have a day to just relax but the fact that Malefor is still out there waiting, it didn't sit right with him. Happily spending the day off, Eclipse and Cynder were just simply walking through the main courtyard conversing with each other when Aurora landed next to them.

"What's going on?" She asked casually.

"Nothing much, though I don't understand why Malefor has shown up yet." Eclipse answered.

"It's not like him to miss something like that." Cynder interjected with a bit of sarcasm.

"Maybe he finally gave up!" Aurora responded cheerily. Eclipse liked that idea, that Malefor has finally given up and crawled back to the hole he came from but he silently hoped that wasn't the case. Eclipse wanted to personally destroy Malefor or at least lock him away and not have him laying in a cave not doing anything. Though the thought of Malefor giving up still made him smile.

"That would be amazing if that was true." Eclipse hoped.

"So what's going on with you Aurora?" Cynder asked the white dragoness. "I haven't seen you at all today." Aurora gave a small smile to her.

"I've got nothing to do so I was just flying around, exploring the city while this beautiful day lasts. There is a storm coming in soon so I mind as well enjoy the sunshine while it lasts." She replied.

"The storm looked to be nasty when I went out on the hunting trip," Eclipse added. "well we can hope it misses us, right?"

"That's really the only thing we can do in terms of that storm." Aurora agreed. Walking through the marketplace the air filled with delicious smells from the different kinds of food that some of the vendors offered. It was also funny to watch as a group of young hatchlings mess around with some of the vendors. Eclipse almost joined in on the fun but was quickly dragged off by Aurora and Cynder at the same time. Their tails firmly wrapped around his back legs, dragging him on his stomach. It didn't hurt but it was still annoying to be dragged around by the two dragonesses in public. He ended up catching the eyes of many of the dragons that were in the market square, which only made him even more embarrassed.

"Hey!" He blurted as they dragged him back, he only heard them laugh behind him.

"Not today Eclipse." Aurora replied in a happy tone, head held up high. He only grunted which made the two dragoness's laugh again. They dragged him away from the marketplace and into the gardens where they let him go. He instantly turned around and glared at the two smiling, almost laughing dragonesses. "Well that was fun, right Cynder?"

"Yep!" She chimed happily. Eclipse silently growled but couldn't help but smile that they were finally getting along. Cynder's original plan to drive him and Aurora apart hasn't gone into drive yet and that made Eclipse wonder on what she was thinking. Granted he could just walk into her head and just sit there and listen to her train of thought but he was trying to be better at using his unnatural abilities for the better rather than the worse. After convincing him to walk around the gardens with them, Eclipse continued to talk with honestly his two favorite dragonesses. It wasn't until Aurora told him to pick a multi-colored flower did he realize why they were in the gardens in the first place. As he reached for the flower a mob of colorful butterflies suddenly started to, physically, drive him back away the flower. He swatted them away so hard he fell down onto his haunches with the butterflies still mobbing him. He could hear the hard laughter of both Aurora and Cynder near him but he couldn't see them considering the rainbow of colors completely surrounding him and making his head hurt.

"Oh wow! Oh my ancestors! Tha-That was too funny!" Cynder laughed once the butterflies flew away providing the sight Eclipse's now angry face. No that he could see clearly (He had to close his eyes slightly to see normal colors instead of rainbows everywhere) it was obvious that he was set up by Aurora.

"Yeah, ha ha ha." Eclipse argued enthusiastically

"Oh c'mon Eclipse," Aurora trotted over to him. She gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "it's only in good fun." She promised.

"Might I ask why I'm the target of this good fun?" He asked her.

"You're just too funny when things such as those butterflies surprise you." She replied laughingly. She planted herself next to him on the grass. Cynder soon joining the two.

"You know what?" Cynder suddenly asked.

"What?" Aurora replied peering from the other side of Eclipse.

"All three of us are sitting right here." She answered.

"What do you mean by that?" Eclipse wondered.

"We're so different, I mean yeah everyone is different but we're incredibly different. Just taking me and Aurora, She grew up in a peaceful village surrounded by family and friends, I grew up with a black magic body and doing terrible things against my own will. Then add Eclipse into the mix and we are probably the definition of world peace." Cynder explained with a small smile.

"When you think of it, you're right." Aurora agreed. Eclipse nodded in agreement as well. Over time the three grew closer as friends and Eclipse honestly couldn't be happier to see the relationship between Aurora and Cynder grow. He noticed that Cynder wasn't as scared to talk about her past since he's been here, especially when talking to dragons like Aurora. When Spyro told him about Cynder shutting herself down whenever he asked about her past, Eclipse challenged himself to change that with Cynder. So over the course of time he and Aurora started to ask such questions making her more comfortable when talking to other dragons about besides Eclipse. It worked and whenever someone like Ardere or Frost asked about it she would easily talk about, after she got to know them a little more of course. They looked over the pond for a while, watching the fish and other aquatic life was quite relaxing to the trio. The content group ended up leaving down the stone path and walked in silence. Eclipse listened to the sounds of nature around them and he was glad that this was honestly such a perfect day. _This day couldn't be better, no need to worry about things like Malefor or fighting ugly creatures. All I'm doing is hanging out with my two favorite dragonesses and it's a amazing day out._ Eclipse contently thought. He let out a happy sigh in response to his thoughts. "Well it seems like someone's enjoying himself." Aurora smiled next to him, nudging him slightly.

"It definitely seems like it." Cynder responded with a giggle.

"Well, what do you expect? We got a nice day out, ain't gotta worry about Malefor, and I got the two most important dragonesses to me right here next to me." He smiled. "I don't know about you but I judge this to be a pretty good day." He looked to Aurora who looked like a red dragon instead of her normal white. He looked over at Cynder who was hiding her face from him, mostly likely blushing profusely. They walked all around the pond, just plainly enjoying the free day they have. They walked out of the gardens and then started to walk around the city, where they went back to the marketplace and decided to peer at the different vendors. Aurora, who kept her tail intertwined with Eclipse's for a multitude of different reasons, walked around the jewelry vendors looking at all the different kinds jewelry that laid across the stalls. She came to rest her eyes on a pair golden bracelets that had had white and black diamonds all rested neatly into the gold which looked like two snakes wrapping themselves around each other. The vendor took notice of the white dragoness staring and professionally shifted over to her.

"What do you need miss? I got quite a selection, all hand crafted by yours truly." He asked leaning over the counter with a smile.

"Um, how much for these two bracelets right here?" She asked still watching them like they would grow legs and walk away.

"These bracelets are probably one of my best creations yet. You interested in purchasing them?" He asked kindly

"Thinking about it, they're beautiful to say the least. You must be quite the jeweler to make these from hand." She complemented looking up to the vendor. The vendor looked old enough to be her father. His red scales almost matched perfectly with Ardere's own and his golden chest almost made her ask him if he was wearing any armor. He looked like he would be a kind dragon which is what he was coming out to be.

"Thank you for the kind compliment young lady. Now these, I think I would put them at maybe 3 gems, of course for a beautiful and kind lady such as you." He responded kindly, she smiled at his generous compliment.

"Really, for me?" She asked looking back down at the bracelets. "Eclipse, can you get these for me?" She asked Eclipse who was too busy staring at a the same group of hatchlings from before run away from an enraged vendor. He turned around and she pointed to the bracelets in question.

"Wow, those look amazing! Did you make them yourself?" He asked the vendor, clear having not paid any attention to their conversation.

"Yes sir. All of these are made by yours truly." The vendor responded with a smile. "These guys are priced at 3 gems."

"That's a low price for such a beautiful piece of work. Are you sure? I'll pay more for them if you want." He asked looking around in a small, black leather pouch that hung high on his left paw.

"No, don't worry about it. For such a kind lady you got here I wouldn't mind selling these for a smaller price. After all she sure knows how to compliment someone." He replied going behind the stand. Aurora watched his paws underneath the glass as he grabbed the two bracelets, he lifted them onto the glass and patiently waited for the black dragon. Eclipse produced the required amount of gems out of his pouch and gave them to the kind vendor

"If you wouldn't mind me asking, but what's your name?" Aurora asked kindly. The vendor smiled towards her again and she gave a warm smile back to him.

"My name is Innova little lady. What might yours be?" He responded handing Eclipse the two bracelets.

"Aurora, it was a pleasure to meet you Innova. I look forward to any future products from you." She responded with a smile.

"As do I. Now have a good day you two." He responded as they walked away. They walked down a street when Aurora stopped Eclipse and pulled him to the side. She took the bracelets out of his bag and presented him with the one that had the white diamonds on it.

"As a promise, that we will always be together no matter what happens. We'll wear the bracelets of each other's scale color." She cheerily explained. Eclipse took it from her paw and slipped it around his right arm, it fit perfectly like it was meant to be there. Then he also took the other one from her.

"If you wouldn't mind?" He asked, motioning to her left paw. She giggled and gently raised her paw up, he slipped it on a smiled as it too fit perfectly around her wrist. "Black doesn't look too bad on you. Then again all it does is add to your true beauty." He stated with a smile.

"Eclipse stop it, and in that case white doesn't look bad on you either." She responded with another giggle.

"Well isn't that obvious?" He joked causing Aurora to giggle again. He then noticed that they were down one dragon, or more specifically, one black dragoness.

"Where did Cynder go?" He asked looking around. She then too peered around for the black dragoness in question.

"She's probably in the market wondering where we disappeared to." She answered starting to walk back to the market. Eclipse didn't notice until she was about to turn the corner away from him.

"Hey, wait up!" He yelled after her. Aurora then started to run away from him.

"You got to catch me!" She yelled back

Spyro was pacing around in his room, thinking aloud to no one but himself. "Why does Cynder like him better than me? I don't understand it, I've been the one who understood her for so long and I helped her through both thick and thin and more. Besides doesn't she know that he's already with Aurora? It doesn't make any sense, maybe it's just that he's known her longer than I have and Aurora did say they had something before I rescued Cynder from Convexity. Yet she must know that he's not interested in her in that way… Right? No he wouldn't, he's with Aurora and he seems too happy with her then to like Cynder in that fashion. He wouldn't go behind Aurora's back and cheat on her with Cynder, it doesn't seem like him to do such a thing. Besides even Cynder wouldn't like that idea of being the reason someone breaks a heart. I say that and she had a whole plan on how to break them up." Then his mind changed gears, unknowing to him a dark seed of thought was dropped by the Dark Master himself, he was playing dragons on dragons just like he planed. "Eclipse would do that now wouldn't he. No, he would! He wants both Aurora and Cynder that's why he's been spending so much time with Cynder because he already has Aurora all wrapped around his claw, now he is trying to get Cynder to be the same thing. The nerve of him **to come into my city and START TAKING THINGS THAT ARE RIGHTFULLY MINE!** **You know what I think it's time I FINISHED THIS, ONCE AND FOR ALL.** " He shouted, not realizing the change in his scales that flickered from his normal purple to a more sinister pitch black, or his eyes that swirled into pure white instead of his usually purple but the biggest change of all, was his mind. His mind went from the loving, caring and the helpful purple dragon, to the darker side of a dragon, the side that loved the taste of blood, the thrill of battle and most of all, killing others with absolute, no mercy. He laughed before jumping off the balcony and into the dark sky that has now fallen across the city and filled with the ever brewing storm. " **It's time to end this bloody eclipse."** He stated with a wicked smile that Malefor was very proud of. _**Dragons on dragons.**_


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N Two chapters in one day... help me. I hope you guys are liking the story so far, if you haven't noticed I'm putting a lot of time into it. It makes me happy to see when people are liking the stories I write and put out for you guys to read. Also quickly I want to ask you who want to answer, who is your favorite and least favorite character and why? You got an answer let me know, I want to see who you guys hate and/or love. It can't be Cynder, Spyro or Malefor because I fell like I will just see those names to often but everyone else is free game. Until next time folks, ENJOY!**

Unknowing of the coming of the coming life or death encounter, Eclipse, Aurora and the now found Cynder ran through the streets towards the main hall. The storm ended up catching them off guard and in the open. Eclipse had his silver wings spread over the two dragonesses, shielding them from the onslaught of rain as it poured down onto the great city. They were laughing as they ran through the rain trying to reach the hall as dry as they could. Right outside the hall though, they stopped dead in their tracks for in front of them stood a sight that chilled Cynder to the very bone. Spyro's black scales and bright white eyes said it all quite loudly to them, the Spyro they knew and loved was gone, locked inside as a replacement for the monster in front of them. "Sp-Spyro?" Cynder asked stepping closer to the hopefully illusion dragon. She hoped that this was just the storm playing tricks on her and it was still the same Spyro that she saw just yesterday. She hoped that it was the real Spyro that was waiting for them instead of the corrupted dragon that they saw in front of them. Eclipse stepped in front of Aurora, who stood there unable to move because of fear that snaked its way through her whole body and held her in place. Memories started to roll in her head of the last battle Eclipse fought before the city. The bloody battle that ended with Eclipse dying and Aurora heart-broken. Eclipse however, was ready to continue that promise he made up months ago and the one he made today, he didn't care who it was trying to defy it. Eclipse was ready to kill Spyro if need be, though he wished it wasn't about to boil down to that.

" **Hello Cynder. It's been awhile time since I last saw you.** " The dark dragon replied, his was now evil and self echoed. Cynder stepped back, shakened by the all too true revelation that stood in front of her. She only saw this creature twice but she knew very well what it was and what it could do. She began to fear for her friends and her own life, this encounter wasn't like before in the center of the world. This time, the darkness inside him was in almost complete control and it showed no signs of losing this control. She couldn't bring him out of it and she knew that she was the only one that couldv'e.

"No, No, NO!" She screamed and took another step back. "Let him go Malefor!"

" **I'm afraid you're wrong Cynder. For Malefor is not here, this is all me.** " Spyro replied with a wicked smile. " **But I'm going to carry out what I know he wants and those three things are standing right here before me.** "

"Spyro! Snap out of it! This isn't you." She screamed at him.

" **Oh you should really save your breath dear Cynder. For these will be your last I'm sad to say, but I will save you for last so you can see your friends die. For the first will be one of you two, now which one will be first is something I can't simply decide.** " He played then started to laugh. Eclipse looked back at Aurora, she was holding him close to her with her paws wrapped around his right arm. Cynder stepped back next to Eclipse and tried to hid behind him. He knew what he needed to do... and he regretted having to do it.

"Cynder, get Aurora out of here." Eclipse demanded.

"Eclipse!" Aurora retorted.

"I'm not leaving you with him, he's a monster now. Eclipse, you will surely be killed-" Cynder cautioned.

"No I won't." Eclipse insisted. Then Cynder knew what he meant, it was the one thing that she never wanted to see, that HE, never wanted her to see even in her darker times. She knew that what he was going to do he might not come out of even if he lives. She heard the stories of him during his own dark state and how there was no way to drag him out. If he didn't fight the darkness back afterwards then he would always remain in his darkened state.

"Eclipse, NO! YOU'RE NOT DOING THAT!" She yelled at him. "I'm not leaving you here to die."

"I'm not going anywhere." Aurora assured him.

"I SAID **GO!** " He shouted at them, his voice unchecked. It started to become echoed and evil like his past self. She could see his eyes as they were slowly flickering white and his scales started to look like they were made out of shadow just like Spyro's. It already started and he was the only one who could stop it.

"Eclipse, don't do it." Cynder rejected. "You don't have to turn. Not after all of this, you can't and you won't." He let out a small growl, she stepped back slightly and looked at him. His eyes were now almost completely white and his scales looked almost like they weren't even scales to begin with. The transaction between light and dark was still in effect but it was past its halfway point.

"I **ha** ve t **o**. I h **av** e **to** **ke** ep y **o** u t **wo** sa **fe a** n **d I hav** e **a** pro **mise** to **ke** e **p.** " He continued in his voice that was now fighting itself. She couldn't convince him otherwise his head was set on it. He was going to let himself fall back into his alternate personality, his dark and cruel personality. After all he's done to stay away from it, he was going to let himself be taken over to keep them safe. He was going to lose himself after only just finding himself again. She felt horrible for him, he had a life, a lover, a future as a good dragon and now... he was going to throw it all away for them.

"Aurora run, I'll be right behind you." Cynder told Aurora, she turned facing the other direction but quickly turned back.

She went to the front of Eclipse and leaned into him, giving him a final kiss on the lips, a single tear rolled down her cheek as she pulled away. "I love you." She whispered then ran in the opposite direction. _I love you too. Now goodbye my sweet Aurora. Live a good life._ A tear also escaped his eye and fell to the ground, blending in with the rain that pelted their backs. He knew very well what willingly having his darker side take over could mean that his lighter side might not come back, possibly forever but if that was necessary to protect her, Cynder and very well the whole city, then that's what he needed to do.

"Go Cynder, I don't want you to see this." He told her.

"Eclipse you don't have to do this." She pleaded

"I have to Cynder. You know that." Eclipse insisted.

Cynder looked to the ground then looked back up a him, a slight mist in her eyes. His heart bleed for the two dragonesses, he was practically leaving them forever. Aurora loved him with all her heart and so did he, then Cynder seemingly just started to see him again and now he was leaving her again for ancestors know how long. "Don't die on me but try not to kill Spyro either." She responded then ran after Aurora. The two opponents started to circle one another in the soaked yard, Spyro still laughing maniacally. Eclipse's scales went to a shade of black that seemed that only the darkest of shadows could muster. His eyes and chest turned into a bright white that matched pieced the slightly fogged space between them. His transformation was complete, his good side was officially gone from the light of day. Now, he was the puppet that he vowed never to become again. His mind changed back into the same blood loving head that disappeared 5 months ago. This is why his name before his rehabilitation into someone good, was the 'Blood Dragon'.

" **Such a lovely sentiment if I say so myself.** " Spyro laughed with his twisted tone.

" **At least I received one.** " Eclipse replied coldly. " **I can't quite say the same for you.** " He smiled and a small laugh escaped his lips. Spyro growled at him from across the circle and narrowed his eyes at him.

" **That's because you stole mine from me! I had a chance before you came strolling in with your pathetic group of weaklings.** " Spyro stated.

" **I'm sorry did I hear that correctly? I think you just said that I'm a weakling, and yet here you are walking in a circle talking when you could be trying to kill me but I guess the term wouldn't apply to the all mighty purple dragon.** " He mocked with another smile.

" **I thought you might want to savor your last few moments in this realm before I rip you to pathetic shreds.** " Spyro shot back.

" **Well wait,** " He said then breathed in then out with a sigh, Eclipse was mocking Spyro as much as he could. This Eclipse loved to mess with his opponent's head and mock them. He loved watching them attack out of pure anger and hatred, it was so... fun. " **,well it's savored, so you can stop wasting your last moments on talking my ear off.** " He answered with a small smirk. That was the breaking point for Spyro and he shot towards him. Eclipse stood there and effortlessly stepped out of the way at the last second causing Spyro to smack in the side of the hall, making it crack under the sheer force. Spyro recovered and quickly turned around, shooting back at him. This time Eclipse disappeared right as Spyro reached him in a cloud of black smoke. Spyro stopped and looked around the space Eclipse just was, wondering where his opponent could have gone. Eclipse then reappeared above him and came crashing down on Spyro's back, pushing him into the cobblestone ground. Eclipse immediately jumped off and disappeared again. Spyro quickly scanned around him looking for Eclipse, confused on Eclipse's new power that he's never heard or seen of. Then Eclipse appeared in front of him and launched himself into the air. Spyro growled and launched after him, determined to strike him down in mid air. The rain battered down on them as they raced up into the storm clouds above. The thunder and lightning clashed around them as the broke the underbelly of the storm. Eclipse turned down within a split-second and grabbed Spyro around the chest then sent themselves plummeting towards the ground in record speed. Eclipse let go and Spyro slammed into the ground again with a giant crash sending shards of stone all around, shortly followed by the cracks that came from Spyro's bones. Spyro shot up again and slashed Eclipse's wings leaving long thin, long holes in them. He fell to the ground but pushed Spyro down with him using a gust of wind. They hit the ground with a great thud and jumped up again. Spyro went to leap at him but Eclipse quickly rolled under him, slicing his still soft underbelly with his metal blade. Spyro landed behind him then turned around to face him but Eclipse was already gone. Out of nowhere black flame encompassed Spyro as Eclipse reappeared on the other side of the courtyard. The sinister fire burned Spyro with great intensity and caused him horrible pain. Eclipse then started spitting green lines of acid towards Spyro. He was able to see the acid racing towards him and was able to quickly jumped out of the way of most of them but two of the green liquid splashed onto his chest and shoulder. The acid, combined with the still raging fire, burned his scales and flesh as it seeped into Spyro's skin but he forced himself to ignored the pain and rocketed towards Eclipse. Eclipse side stepped out of the way and back lashed him on his way by. Spyro's flying faltered and he smashed into the ground, sliding across the stone ground, flipping onto his back as he came to a stop. Eclipse shoot more acid towards him forcing him to roll away, he jumped up and shot shards of ice at Eclipse. He simply disappeared out of existence with a puff of black smoke but Spyro already planned for that, he roared fire all around him trying to light the dragon on fire. To his surprise, Eclipse reappeared in front of him, unharmed and with a wicked smile. Spyro quickly headbutted him which caused him to stumble backwards, he then shot electricity through the black dragon. Eclipse roared in pain as the electric charge ran through him but he caught the rest in a ball of wind then shot it back at Spyro, pushing volts of electricity through Spyro's entire body. He collapsed to the ground shaking violently as it coursed through his body. Eclipse slowly walked towards him with a smile on his face. Spyro was able to get up but Eclipse appeared in front of him and sent him soaring backwards with tail hit which also caused his cheek bleed. Spyro smashed into the wall of the hall and crumpled to the ground in a puddle. He tried getting up but fell back to the ground with a splash. He started to return to normal with purple scales and eyes. He looked up at the approaching Eclipse and was able to stand up.

"Looks like purple boy is back, now to have some fun." Eclipse laughed. Spyro let out a wave rocks which pushed Eclipse back away from him, then shot a stream of fire towards the black dragon. The dragon redirected it away with a gust of wind, lighting a nearby bush on fire. Spyro shot at the dragon while he was still open, he slashed Eclipse across the face making three red gashes, all three of them connected with his left eye. Spyro then pushed Eclipse into the wall of a nearby home with a wave of rock that erupted form the ground. Eclipse banged into the wall and sank to the ground, looking defeated. The rain continued to pour across the wrecked courtyard, building even more puddles in the various dents in the ground. Spyro slowly approached the body of the black dragon and looked over him. Before he could react Eclipse turned his head to the purple dragon and sent him flying backwards into the same wall with a gust of wind. Eclipse then pinned Spyro to the wall with the same wind and got up from the ground. Unable to move he could only watch as the black dragon approached him. Eclipse put his face right up to Spyro's and smiled. " **The big and bad purple dragon has finally fallen, such a shame, really. I was just beginning to like you but you can't complete goals without some sacrifices. I can't continue my reign of terror with you still around, defying my motives. So I guess this will be my first taste of a purple dragon's blood, I can't wait** " Eclipse told him then began to brew his black fire his mouth and Spyro could feel the heat of the coming fire. At the last second Spyro breathed ice down Eclipse's throat, icing it over almost completely. He stumbled back and released Spyro from the wall. Spyro quickly charged him hitting his head into Eclipse's chest sending him backwards along the ground. Spyro ran towards him and was about to shoot his own flame at him but he disappeared. Eclipse reappearing behind him, grabbed his tail and swung him around. Once he was released Spyro was sent tumbling across the ground. Eclipse then appeared above him and pinned him to the ravaged cobblestone ground. Spyro pushed him off and slashed him across the muzzle, making blood run down unto his face.

Eclipse took some steps back and put his paw to his muzzle, once he pulled it back he saw his paw coated in his own red blood. Spyro got up and looked at the black dragon, locking eyes on the dragon. Eclipse smiled with contentment and licked his paw clean of the maroon liquid, the taste of the blood enthralled him as it washed over him. Spyro shuddered realizing he was watching what it was like to see Eclipse in this state of mind. He then knew that this was what he was like for almost his entire life, he began to feel sorry for him. Being trapped in such a body with strange and horrible desires for 15 years must have been horrifying. Before he knew it Eclipse was on top him again, he was pushed to the ground by Eclipse himself this time. Eclipse laughed at Spyro as he tried to get free again under him. " **I liked you better when you were angry, you were much more fun to play with. Tell me Spyro, how does it feel to die without telling the dragoness you love how you feel?** " He asked with a wicked smile placing one of his claws to Spyro's throat and softly traced an invisible line across. He could feel the complete terror in Spyro and he enjoyed it with every fiber of his being.

"Eclipse?" Came a soft voice from behind. He looked up and locked eyes with a white dragoness who he knew too well. Even through the thick layers of his other side, Eclipse could feel the sorrow in his heart. _She was never meant to see me like this._ "Please... stop." She softly pleaded. He looked down at Spyro and released the hold he had on him with his arms. Spyro pushed him off and tried to slash him, Eclipse dodged the slash with a jump but Spyro was able the slash his right paw, drawing a small amount of blood. Eclipse quick pushed him back using the biggest gust of wind he could muster. He looked at Aurora and saw a tear roll down her face. _I'm a monster, I don't deserve her anymore. Not after this._ His mind started to revert back to his better self but he still felt like he needed to leave. He couldn't trust himself with her anymore.

" **I'** m **sor** ry." He said then launched himself into the air faster than he's ever before. Aurora watched as the dragon she loved fly away in fear of himself. She fell down onto the ground and began to cry in the rain.

"Just come back, just come back. All you have to do is come back." She cried. Cynder walked up next to her and also shed a tear for now disappeared Eclipse. _He's gone, I lost him again and this time... I will never see him again._

"He'll come back Aurora, he will come back, don't you worry about it." Cynder told her in an attempt to calm her down. Aurora just continued to cry into the already soaked ground. Cynder then glared at Spyro who was trying to stand up and started to walk over to him. He noticed her coming and tried to scramble away from her but she forcefully stamped down onto his tail and he let out a loud yelp. "YOU'RE not going anywhere!" She yelled. Not caring for the crowd that was already around them. Cynder looked down on him with nothing but pure anger in her eyes. "YOU have a lot of explaining to do or so help me ancestors I will gut you slowly." she scolded him.

"Okay, okay. Really it's quite a simple reason why, hey did you get a new necklace it looks nice-" He deceived but Cynder put more pressure on his tail. "Ow, ow, ow, okay fine. So when you and Eclipse started spending more time together I thought maybe, just maybe, you guys got together?" He squeaked out, bracing immediately afterwards but it wasn't Cynder he needed to worry about.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY ABOUT MY ECLIPSE!" Aurora roared once she heard those words. "YOU THOUGHT THE HE WOULD CHEAT ON ME!" Cynder released on his tail and stare blankly at him. Spyro quickly got up and backed up from the enraged dragoness that continued to walk towards him.

"Nononono!" He denied, continuing to back up.

"DON'T YOU DARE DENY WHAT YOU SAID SPYRO! You thought Eclipse was cheating on me with Cynder?" She screamed at him

"Spyro! Didn't you stop to think that the fact that me and him are the only ones who can hold Malefor from our heads or the fact that we've been the most attacked out of all of us. I gave up on him Spyro! I told you this a week ago! For ancestors sake can't you just stop to think about these things for once." She sighed. Spyro hung his head in shame.

"I don't understand Spyro. You know how close me and Eclipse were and yet here you are, standing here right after you tried to kill him and you drove him into willingly letting his darker side take hold. I don't understand you anymore Spyro. I once thought that the high and mighty purple dragon was suppose to help others but now all I see now is a dragon who can't use common sense and drives others away." She stated. This was true, he knew how close her and him were. His head sank even lower to the ground as the white dragoness stared down on him.

"Aurora-" He began.

"NO! Spyro ju-just don't talk to me anymore." She said harshly. She let a tear fall and walked towards Spyro. Spyro braced for him to get hit but instead nothing made contact, instead Aurora picked up a golden bracelet that had specks of red blood across it. "You ruined everything Spyro!" She then walked away with her head low, the sound of sobbing accompanying her.

"Cynder I didn't-"

"You messed up big time Spyro, I once respected you. I followed you to literally the end of the world SPYRO! The end of the world, didn't you hear what I said to you as the world fell around us! If you didn't let me refresh your stupid memory. I LOVE YOU, that's exactly what I said and I told you that as clear as possible. I used to admire you Spyro, the way the dragons, moles and cheetahs we met all seemed to look up to you. For how your heart was so pure and cared for others." She told him.

"Cynder I didn't know." He tried

"Of course you didn't. You were too busy to see the hints I dropped, you were too busy doing everything for everyone else. Remember on that balcony when you said you wouldn't help me to bring them apart. Well guess what you did Spyro, you did just that!" She reached around to the back of her neck. "You know what Spyro, just don't even bother talking to me anymore." She undid the small clip on the back of her golden necklace and threw it to the ground. The emerald popped out of its socket and laid there separated from the rest of the jewelry. Spyro stared at the green jewel as it laid on the ground in a puddle of rainwater.

"Cynder-" He called to her but she just ran off away from him. His heart seemed to break in different places all at once, as she disappeared from sight. The large crowd slowly disappeared around him and the only thing that still accompanied him was the storm that still raged over head. The rain continued to drench his scales and the destroyed courtyard around him. He heard the thunder as it crashed over his head and the lightning continued to flash it's blinding white light. All Spyro did was stare down at the lone green emerald that used to belong to the dragoness he cared so much for. _What have I done?_


	11. Chapter 11

Aurora laid in Eclipse's room, gripping his promise bracelet in her white paws as she sobbed lightly. She placed in front of her and looked over it, the white diamonds still seemed perfect as she looked over it. Then one of the diamonds and a spot of blood on it, ruining the gem as it was now stained half red. She looked at her own promise bracelet and began to tear up again. "Where did you go Eclipse?" The last words still hung in her mind. _I'm sorry_. She didn't understand why he left so quickly and why he had to say sorry. "All you had to do was stay. Then everything would be okay, Spyro would have been all right, I would be still be okay and your promises would still be kept." Cynder flew into the room from the balcony and laid down next to the distressed dragoness, she tried to slid her wing over her but Aurora shifted uncomfortable and she retracted the wing away from her.

"How are you doing?" Cynder asked innocently putting on a weak smile, trying to cheer up the dragoness. Aurora only motioned to the bracelet in front of her and put her head down between her paws. Cynder saw the blood on the white gem and realized what Aurora meant.

"What do you think he meant Cynder? When he said he was sorry." She asked depressingly.

"He never wanted to show you that side of him. When I heard of what happened to him on one of his 'hunts' I asked him about it. He told me that he never wanted anyone to see him like that. 'Sometimes Cyn, that side of me even gives me nightmares.' Was part of that conversation I had with him. Also when his troops returned, he wouldn't returned with them, sometimes not for months at a time, 'I needed to find myself again.' was his reason." She explained

"That explains it I guess." She responded lifting her head a little. "Do you think we'll see him again?"

"Aurora! Of course we'll see him again, I mean it's Eclipse we're talking about." She answered.

"I know it's Eclipse, I just mean look at the recent events Cynder. Yesterday Eclipse almost broke under the pressure because Malefor attacked me, you and Ardere at the same time. Malefor has been growing in power, what if he finally takes Eclipse or Eclipse allows himself to go back to Malefor?"

"Aurora now you're just being paranoid. Eclipse will be fine and he'll back in Warfang in a few days maybe a week at most." She said in confidence, though she knew otherwise. She knew that he might never return to them but she needed to fill the dragoness with at least some hope.

"I can't believe Spyro. If it wasn't for him this wouldn't have happened." Aurora sighed heavily, putting her head back down on the tear stained carpet. The sound of wingbeats and a thump fell Cynder's ears but she didn't turn around

"Okay, I think I have an idea on how to cheer this lonely sister up!" Exclaimed someone behind them.

"Frost." Aurora sighed with frustration.

"What do you expect me to do. I just saw my little sister's first breakup. So being the best brother that I am, I decided to come and check up on you." He responded walking in front of them. She glared daggers at him and received a smile that only reminded her of Eclipse's warm smiles that would always cheer up her day.

"I'm fine Frost so you can go and do your Frost things elsewhere." Aurora told him holding back tears from the small memory.

"Aurora, at least let me just stay here with you." Frost said with more sincerity in his voice.

"Frost, out, now." Aurora stated harshly.

"Okay then, I can respect that." Frost replied on his way out. "If you ever need me just know that I'll always be there for you." Cynder watched him leave out the balcony and fly into the storm-filled sky.

"You didn't have to be so mean to him. He was only trying to help out." Cynder pointed out. Aurora sighed and put her head down.

"I know it's just that... I'm fine." Aurora insisted, attempting to wipe away her tears. Her eye's were still misty and red, they still looked ready to open up again at any moment.

"Aurora, I flew in here and you were sobbing with the bracelet." Cynder pointed out.

"Cynder, he didn't even try to stay. Instantly, into the air and out of sight. Not to mention, did you see him, his body was covered with bruises, burns, and gashes. Plus the way that fight started, they faced off exactly the way he faced off with that beast from the past. I wanted more than you know to just make it all stop. I lost him once and now I lost him again" She told her.

"Aurora, he's fine. We just need to wait, if you understood him the way I do then you would be able to wait." Cynder explained.

"Fine, I'll give him a week then I'm going to try and find him." Aurora sighed. So she did she waited a week. For Aurora it went by slowly, every day passing longer than the last. She missed him, it was a foreign sight to not see him in the city or around at all for that matter. She constantly found herself thinking about him, she even had a nightmare about him serving Malefor again. The week was up and as soon as it was she went out to find him. Just outside the city gates she was stopped by Cynder and the others. "Out of my way Cynder! I'm not waiting any longer. I need to find him" She shouted at her.

"Good, I'm not stopping you. In fact we wanted to go with you." Cynder replied motioning towards Ardere and Frost behind her.

"I owe him my life and yours. This is the least I can do for him." Frost stated

"I respected him since that day and I also owe him my life as well as the both of yours." Ardere confessed. Aurora gave them a kind smile.

"You already know my reason, so shall we be off on this journey?" Cynder asked.

"Let's get to it." Aurora announced and started towards the direction she last saw Eclipse going. It was towards the mountain outside of Warfang that was named the Fountain of Souls. _Don't worry Eclipse, we're on our way._

Spyro's week was rough and slower than a slug. He couldn't leave his room without getting dirty looks from passing dragons, even Flame and Ember were trying to avoid him. Whenever he went to the main hall the entire hall stared at him like he was a stranger. Then in the marketplace, the vendors would either close down or give him absurd prices. He laid in his hidden area of the gardens, attempting to sleep. The only thing stopping him was the heavy guilt that sat squarely on his shoulders. He stared at the crystal clear water and thought of the fight he had with Eclipse only a week ago. _I should've just let it go, I was stupid. I knew how close he was with Aurora and I should have taken the past into consideration. It doesn't help what we were facing at the time. I was just plain idiotic, attacking them like that. I shouldn't have let my jealousy get the best of me. I messed myself over real good, Aurora hates me, well the entire city hates me now. Eclipse is gone and hasn't come back for a week now. Then Cynder wants nothing to do with me, I should've just asked her. She would never lie to me, she never has. Now I know how she at least felt about me before hand but now I doubt that she still does. Maybe I should try to apologize to her and Aurora, it's all I can really do after all._ He got up and flew into the air. _I should apologize to Aurora first, I did the most damage to her after all. She should be in Eclipse's tower, that's the last place I saw her in anyway._ He landed on the balcony and peered into the dark room, it was empty. He walked into the deserted room and looked around. Spyro never really got to look inside his room and what was inside. He looked at the chest in the corner and decided to open it, interested at what it could contain from the black dragon. _Maybe I'll find something that can lead me to either him or her._ He found a piece of paper as he picked it up, he saw a picture of him and Aurora near a lake below it.

 _To my dearest Aurora,_

 _If you're reading this I have either left in in body or in soul. This letter is suppose to be for you and you alone. I write this while on our journey and you're currently sleeping next to me with my wing over you. You look so peaceful while you sleep, I guess that's a reason why I love you. You always seem to be a light in even the darkest of moments. The day I met you I promised myself that you would never have any harm done to you, even if I lost myself in the process. As the journey went on, my promise was tested much by the ancestors. If you can look back on the day where I died protecting you from that dragon, you can see that I would do anything to keep you alive and therefore keep that promise. I trusted you with some of my darkest secrets and the rest I leave on this page for I want you to know the truth about me and what I could do. If I left you in body then I must have left for one of my dark secrets. Seeing as you come from a small village I guess you don't know about the alternate sides of dragons. When a dragon either learns or is born with three elements a new entity is created in that dragon. This is one of my dark secrets for I'm one of those few dragons who have learned three elements, I know four which only makes such entity even stronger. You know it as the Blood Dragon, but for me it's my worst nightmare. Whenever I become the Blood Dragon I can do nothing but watch for it only craves the taste of blood. It's craving for blood ignores all even the ones that it loves. If I left you in body, I dragged myself away from you for this reason not because I don't love you or never wanted you to reach Warfang. I vowed myself to your protection and if I stayed with you in that state then you would be anything but safe. If I left you in spirit then I tell you this, I've loved you since that first day I met you. A secret that I have already shared with you at this time but I just wanted you to know that. I just wanted you to know that no matter what happened to me that I loved you with every part of my heart and still do in the spirit realm. Another dark secret I want to share is my time as the evil I was before, I never wanted that for my childhood but fate plays interesting games. That time was dedicated to Malefor and Gual all the way to your village but that's not what I wanted you to know. I wanted you to know that I already had a lover, her name was Cynder. The same Cynder that you know as the Terror of the Skies but she wasn't always like that, yes she was irritable but her nice side was still beautiful. I lost her three years ago, once she started trying free Malefor from Convexity. I haven't seen her since, so if you find her and she's reformed like me tell her goodbye for me. I at least what her to know that I too became reformed and that she was never alone. Another dark secret you should know is that of me being able to enter other's minds. I tell the truth when I say I never used it once on you, Frost or Ardere. I used it as way to play my twisted games and drive my targets to insanity, that's how I killed the last wind guardian. The last thing in this letter that I can share is my unique ability of teleportation. In a blink of the eye I can disappear in black smoke then reappear to anywhere I can think of, of course this limits me to places I've seen. The place I go in between these teleports is a realm that stays between our realm and the realm of the spirits. This ability is something that I say is the one that scares myself the most. Being stuck between realms is a weird place to be, it's almost entirely pitch black and it's freezing cold. The reason I tell you these things is so you can feel like you got to know me better than what I got to tell you. I wish I could've spent the rest of life with you but now the ancestors has seemed to have prevented that. Just promise me that you won't wait for me to come back, live a good life, go meet someone else who loves you as much as I do. If I do come back and you've waited for me then we can go back to normal but just promise me that you won't wait, I very well might never return to you._

 _Yours now and until the end,_

 _Eclipse_

 _P.S. to answer your question,_

 _my favorite color is silver._

Spyro finished reading the letter and looked down at the picture of the two. The picture was drawn at sunset and they sat on the edge of a lake. Aurora's head rested on his shoulder and they were looking across the lake. He couldn't help but feel wrong for reading the letter and looking over this picture. Letter in paw he carefully placed it on the set of cushions closest to the fireplace figuring that is where Aurora slept for the past week. _She needs to know._ He stared back into the chest and saw something sparkle underneath everything. He carefully dug through the the chest's contents and reached his goal. His eyes locked onto a piece of jewelry… it was a ring. A silver and gold ring that had a white diamond on the top, he took it out and studied it. Now he truly felt like he was trespassing, he quickly placed it back into the chest and shut it. He knew what needed to be done, he jumped off the balcony and flew back to his tower. He quickly opened his own chest full of armor and enchanted items, staring into the chest he mentally started to plan out what he would wear. He started to put on the armor he selected in his head when Flame flew into the room. Flame stared at the rushing dragon in utter confusion. "Not that I care, but what are you doing?" He asked.

"Going after Eclipse." Spyro quickly replied slipping on a pair of anklets with red glowing healing gems.

"I know you don't want to be despised by the city anymore but going after Eclipse is crazy. He's like a ghost, Spyro plus didn't he beat you before?" Flame pointed out.

"Yeah but I didn't know what he could do and I know he's a ghost. I know where he went and I'm putting on this armor plus I have these," He held up one of the red gem anklets. Flame studied it. "Watch out." Spyro told him and Flame backed up. Spyro place a helmet on his head and it built a metal piece of armor that traveled from his head to the base of his tail.

"Wow, since when did you have that?" He asked stepping closer to the rushing dragon.

"I got it from Terrador when I got back. It's cool isn't it, at least I think so." Spyro answered quickly looking back at the shining metal.

"Yeah it's cool!" He exclaimed. "How do you get it off?" Then Spyro closed his eyes and it all quickly retracted into the single helmet.

"All I have to do is think." He stated proudly. "Well I'm set, I'll be off." He said walking towards the balcony.

"Do you know where Cynder and Aurora are? Ember wanted to give them something but she hasn't seen them all day." Flame asked

"I haven't seen them and why would I? They both hate me." He pointed out to Flame.

"I don't know maybe one of them came by or something." Flame explained.

"Goodbye Flame." Spyro said then jumped off the balcony and soared through the air. Then he heard a sound that almost scared him out of the air, an explosion. Black smoke started to raise from one of the walls and the alarm gong rang through the city. Spyro looked towards the black smoke, it was the part of the wall that wasn't rebuilt yet. He saw hundreds of thousands of grublins entering the city. _It's a full on invasion._ The streets below were being infested with the grublins. _Should I help? If I get Eclipse and come back then we can push them out faster but by the time I find him the city might of already fallen._ He watched a family of dragons get cornered by the grublin hoard and that settled the dispute in his head. _I have to put it off till the grublins are gone._ He then rocketed down towards the family in a flaming ball, once he landed he began fighting with everything he had.

"Are you ready Aurora?" Cynder asked looking down into the pitch black tunnel. They finally made it to the mountain and found a tunnel with a dry blood stains near the entrance. They stared down into the tunnel and decided to leave the decision to go into the tunnel to Aurora.

"Ready as I will ever be." She stated the proceeded to walk in. It was cold and it was silent, those were the first things she noticed in the tunnel. "Ardere provide us with some light please." She asked behind her. She felt something smooth slid by her and then a flame appeared in front of her, revealing Ardere's back and lighting the walls of the tight tunnel around her. The stone around them was unnaturally black and freezing to the touch. _Something evil made this stone._ She thought, the group continued down the tunnel and the deeper they went a feeling that was nothing but sinister crossed over them. _This tunnel is not natural. It doesn't even feel like it belongs here, like it's in the wrong place._ She continued. The tunnel ended and split into two different paths that lead away from one another.

"What are we going to do?" Frost asked.

"Easy, we have to split up, two and two." Cynder answered letting the flame disappear for a second. Aurora studied the two tunnels and noticed the walls. The tunnel on the left still had the same black stone the same stone as the chamber they were standing in. Then the tunnel to the right looked like normal stone but for a split second she saw a flicker of light before Ardere brought back his own flame.

"Me and Aurora will head down the right tunnel and you two go down the left one." Ardere decided, letting the flame go again. Aurora saw another flicker of light down the same tunnel but it disappeared under Ardere's flame again.

"Okay let's go. See you guys on the other side. Mark the tunnels you go down, both the beginning and the end." Cynder agreed making a single line in the black stone, Ardere making two lines in the normal tunnel. Cynder and Frost then started down the black tunnel disappearing in the process. She looked at Ardere who had his muzzle seemingly encased with flame.

"Ready?" She asked him and he simply nodded. She began down the tunnel with Ardere behind her. The orange light of the fire lighting the way down the tunnel. She couldn't help but notice that the walls were slowly changing color from the normal gray to the black from before. The ominous feeling hung in the already sinister air around them. The tunnel seemed to carry on forever like it was an endless line of rock. Then like an illusion, she could make out a dragon ahead of them but only just the silhouette. She turned back to Ardere who scooted by her and released the flame making it pitch black and almost freezing cold. She heard Ardere start walking and she followed only able to hear his heavy footsteps. It was so dark it felt like she was in a big room but reality it was just a small, cramp tunnel. Ardere let out a puff of fire and it lit up the dragon in front of them. Aurora's heart skipped a beat when she saw the familiar black scales on its back but then it almost stopped. The dragon turned around revealing a pair of swirled white and red eyes and it smiled, revealing teeth stained with dark red. The image frightened her to almost freeze up but Ardere pushed her back.

"Aurora, RUN!" Ardere ordered and she followed, running back up the tunnel as fast as she can. She could hear Ardere following her, at least that's who she hoped was following her. She jumped when a horrific screech rang throughout the tunnel, most likely coming from the creature that they just left behind. She didn't stop, she just kept running. Her scales hit rock after rock as she couldn't see anything in front of her. She tripped over herself and skidded roughly across the ground. Orange light filled the tunnel, she looked behind her and Ardere was breathing fire down the other end. She heard high pitched laughter from beyond the flame that reminded her of one of those hyenas, it only scared her more. This dragon thought that this was some kind of cruel game and they were obviously enjoying it. She scrambled to get up and run but she felt someone pick her up and the orange light quickly faded. "C'MON." She heard Ardere cry and she felt his scales under hers, she was on his back. She heard him start running but couldn't see so she tried to get as flat as she could on his back. Another high pitched laughter came from behind, she turned around and saw a pair of white and red dots looking straight at her. She screamed and turned away, not wanting to watch them follow them. She couldn't believe what Eclipse has become, she didn't want to believe that it was him. She wanted this all to be one big nightmare and that she would wake up in his sleeping embrace, back in his room, back in Warfang. "Aurora, I'm sorry." Ardere suddenly uttered

"What do you mean?" She asked but then she was shot forward over Ardere's head and landed on the rough, rocky ground. Orange light filled the cave as Ardere let another wave of sizzling fire down the tunnel almost forming a wall from top to bottom in front of them.

"GO! Find Cynder and Frost." He ordered then continued the barrage of fire. A high pitch squeal came from down the flame. She saw a lone tear hit the ground from Ardere's cheek, he turned to her stopping the fire for only a second. "You were always a sister to me." He whispered then continued the flame and started to slowly walk in the opposite direction toward the creature with his fire still roaring down the tunnel. She got up and attempted to put a step down towards Ardere but he let out a scream then fell to the ground… followed shortly by a high pitched squeal. The tunnel went completely dark and then the same evil dots appeared down the tunnel where Ardere just was, locking on to her. She turned around and ran the other way as fast as she could, not daring to turn back. Bashing the walls of the tunnel causing her to bruise and bleed as she darted down the tunnel. She stopped at the intersection and looked between the two black tunnels. She saw Cynder's single claw mark and proceeded down the tunnel as fast as she could, she dare not check for the twisted dragon that she left behind.

"CYNDER! FROST!" She screamed down the tunnel as she ran. She came to another junction and looked between the two more tunnels. One marked with Cynder's single claw and then the other was marked with an X which she guessed was Frost's. _Which do I warn first? My brother or my best friend?_ She thought rapidly but a squeal from behind forced her down the X tunnel. Quickly taking a glance back her eyes rested on a smile of red teeth with red eyes to match, she screamed again. _Cynder is more than capable then handling that thing... I hope._ "FROST!" She screamed down the dark tunnel. It felt like the walls were closing in all around her. A flicker of light appeared ahead of her, she ran harder towards it. The light became brighter and larger as she got closer to it. She couldn't stop running in time and collided into the light, making it disappear. Last thing she heard was a high pitched laugh all too close then blacked out.

Cynder peered through the darkness using one of her element's to form a kind of night vision. Her and Frost split up to cover two tunnels at once which left them both alone, she only hoped that she ended up finding Frost again before something evil did. The tunnel she went down was an eerie silent, the air was filled with tension as the deeper into the mountain she went. Then a scream followed by a high pitched squeal filled the tunnel around her. "What the?" She turned around and saw nothing but the dark behind her. She continued down the tunnel slowly on alert, worried that she might find the origin of the scream in this cramped tunnel. Then another scream went through the air this time much closer. She started running down the way she came. "That was Aurora. They must have found Eclipse but what was the high pitched-" Then she knew what it was, Eclipse's dark mind was in the state of insanity, if he remained under it's influence the Eclipse she knew would be completely gone. This was also the time in which he's the most dangerous but the most likely to change back to the Eclipse she needed him to be. _Why did I let them convince me of splitting up? I should taken every precaution once I entered this tunnel. Now, one of them is probably dead unless the real Eclipse can convince it otherwise._

She turned a sharp left down Frost's tunnel then the laugh came from down the tunnel. "No." She whispered to herself. She was in a full sprint, racing down the tunnel. She was stopped by a blue dragon who laid unconscious on the ground. "Frost." She leaned down and tried to shake him but her paw went through him and the fake body disappeared. _Eclipse has them both, most likely Ardere by now as well. Other wise there would be more of a struggle._ Her eyes then locked eyes with a golden bracelet. She scrambled over to it, picking it up she noticed it was lined with black diamonds but it looked intact. _He didn't kill them. He wants me to find him and them. He knows me too well._ She then started running down the tunnel. After many twists and turns with some hard choices at intersections she finally made eyes onto a figure, a dark figure. She knew who it was for he was sitting in her direction and staring down the tunnel, his bright white eyes were all too familiar.

" **Welcome Cynder, haven't you enjoyed my little game so far?** " He asked with a wicked red smile.

"No, but am I right in assuming you've enjoyed this dragon hunt well." She shot back.

" **Oh how I did enjoy this game. I enjoyed as that little dragoness ran and ran. She led me start to her brother as well. Now that I found you I guess I win.** " He stated starting to walk closer.

"You still have to catch me." She shouted then turned around but he stopped her. He appeared in front of her still surrounded by black smoke.

" **Caught you.** " He said with his smile still intact. She saw the freshness of the blood that stained his teeth accompanied with the smell of rotten flesh that made her sick to the stomach. " **Now, hold tight, I really don't feel like stopping for your limbs.** " He mocked then grabbed her. She tried to get away but it was no use, before she knew it she was in a metal cage along with the unconscious others. She saw that both Ardere and Frost had gashes along their necks but they were still breathing just fine. Aurora was different though, she didn't have any marks on her that showed that she fought back or that she was attacked like the boys. Cynder turned back to the outside and peered into the darkness.

"Let us go Eclipse!" She shouted out of the metal bars. All she heard was a hyena-like laugh that got louder and louder. As Eclipse came into view then she realized he wasn't alone, the sight sent chills down her spine colder than Glacius himself. Fear crept along her scales as the evil dragon came into sight. His dark purple scales that struck fear into so many others and his glowing yellow eyes that became the image of a nightmare, slowly walked into view. His big structure that was rivaled by only Terrador. Slowly, out of the pitch black darkness came the Dark Master himself, with his sickening smile.

"Why would I upset my master? He gave me a very specific task." He asked mocking her by cocking his head to the side, she noticed that his voice was no longer echoed and instead more evil in base nature. Eclipse began laughing at her with his high pitched, hyena like laugh.

" **For that I congratulate you Eclipse. Now we sit and wait, soon the grublins will retreat and Spyro will try to be the hero dragon that he has always thought he was.** " Malefor praised.

"Spyro will defeat you like he did before. I wouldn't get your hopes up you purple big demon!" Cynder insulated. Eclipse's laughter stopped, replaced with a growl and he started to stalk closer to Cynder. Cynder slowly backed away from the edge of the cage, trying to get as further away from the black dragon she once knew. Malefor put his paw in front of Eclipse and pushed him away from the cage.

" **Don't worry Eclipse, she can't do anything and with you by my side. Spyro can't defeat us, we will rule the realm together. I'll even let you have Warfang if you wish.** " Malefor stated the proceeded back into the darkness.

"I think that is a great idea. I always wanted my own city." Eclipse smiled and was about to follow when something stopped him.

"Eclipse! He's tricking you, you'll be his slave like you were before. Don't do this." Cynder pleaded to him. He turned around, his eyes were back to their normal silver color but they looked horribly pained. She gasped softly. "There's still good in you, let us out and we can defeat Malefor together. Just please let us out." She told him but he just shook his head and hung his head.

"I'm sorry Cynder, but I'm doing this on my own free will. I reclaimed myself the same day I fought Spyro but I knew where Malefor was. So I went after him and when I found him, I saw the army he had risen and I feared that he might actually destroy Warfang and kill all of you with it. I forced myself to strike a deal with him. The deal was that I would serve him freely if he would spare you, Aurora, Ardere and Frost, also that all of you would be treated fairly and to the same respect as I am." He explained to her. "If it wasn't Malefor and instead a unique grublin or just Malefor by himself then I would've come back the same day but the power Malefor held, I couldn't risk anything and you guys paying for it. I'm sorry Cynder but if he breaks the deal with anyone of you then I will kill him with no mercy, I promise you that." He promised giving her one his signature weak smiles. "I'm sorry." Then he disappeared back into the darkness that surrounded her cage. She looked around at the others in the cage and they were unconscious but still breathing. She started to feel cold and scared, even with her vision into the dark she couldn't see or hear anything around her. She felt alone, just like for those 3 years. _I guess I wait for Spyro to get here. I just hope that Eclipse can see that Malefor will betray him in the end._ She then laid down and curled into a ball, wishing that she could do something. _I'm so useless._


	12. Chapter 12

"They're retreating!" Someone yelled as the grublins finally started to pull back. Spyro watched them run out of the city and disappear back into the trees of the forest beyond the city's walls. The siege was hard and long, both sides suffered great losses. Spyro looked around at the wreckage of battle around him. Most of the bodies belonged to grublins but he saw the bodies of dragons mixed in as well, with their red, blue, green and yellow scales sticking out clearly to him. Rubble of a fallen tower blocked off a street to Spyro's left as well as littered the ground with stones around him. Dragons near him also looked around at the ravaged courtyard and saw the bodies of their fallen allies and enemies. Spyro lept into the air and looked at it from the sky. Some fires raged towards the breach in the walls, even though of the massive numbers on the grublin's side they didn't reach too deep in the city. He saw a street completely iced over as well as a street almost completely destroyed by rubble. He saw flames from the ground below and realized it was a group of fire dragons burning the grublin bodies. Another group of earth dragons we carrying fallen dragons away, most likely to a graveyard. He landed in front of the ruined wall and saw the guardians studying it intensely.

"Hello Spyro, I assume that you also assisted in defending the city." Cyril acknowledged. Spyro could still slashes and dent marks covering his blue armor, but he couldn't tell whether the blood on it was his own or a grublin's. Cyril also seemed to put less pressure on his left leg and a large gash traveled from the top of his head to his chin just barely missing his eye.

"Of course I defended the city. Though I don't understand why the grublins would attack us outright." Spyro responded.

"And in such large numbers with that to." Volteer added quickly. Cyril then gave Volteer a deadpan glare. The large yellow dragon looked in better shape than Cyril but still had his fair share of gashes and bruises. The entire front plate of his armor looked horribly damaged, it even had a puncture on it's left side that was still bleeding. His left wing membrane was non-existent, while his right didn't look any better. One of his tail blades was bent completely around while the rest of them were chipped and blooded.

"It is strange that the grublins attacked in the first place but their plan is too intelligent for them. They must be under someone's influence and following their orders." Volteer continued.

"Maybe Eclipse has done this. We don't know what happened to him after he left, he very well could still be under his darker side's control. If I remember correctly he was the general that attacked the city during the war and the grublins were fiercely loyal to him." Terrador recalled, finally speaking from his silence. The worst out of the three, Terrador looked like he fought the entire army by himself. His rocky mace at the end of his tall was cracked in half. His armor was completely destroyed with scratches, dents, punctures, and even parts of it wasn't even there. His armor is most likely the only thing keeping him alive with the amount of damage that was dealt to the armor. One of his eyes was a bloody mess, Spyro didn't dare bring it up. His other eye was shut tight, protecting it from the blood coming from his eyebrow. His left horn was now only a stub while his other horn was missing its tip. Terrador's left leg had a slash that somehow spiraled around his leg and his right had two large holes in the side, the same leg was also lifted into the air. His back legs suffered the same damage of slashes and bruises. Not a inch was spared on Terrador's body.

"Hopefully you wrong Terrador." Cyril sighed.

"We all hope that Cyril but we have to face the reality that it might be him, restarting the war." Terrador confessed. Spyro turned away and prepared to jump into the sky when Volteer noticed him.

"Where are you going now Spyro?" He asked.

"To go get Eclipse." He answered then took to the skies. He flew to the mountain he last saw Eclipse travel to. He could hear the grublins moving through the forest below with their mumbling and crashing through the thick brush. He silently flew through the sky trying to stay behind the noise but still within earshot. They lead him to the entrance that went underground, he saw the dried blood that spotted the entrance. _Just like the catacombs, great._ He silently followed them through the unusual black tunnels. _What made these tunnels? They're not natural by any means of the imagine._ He was too busy staring at the walls that he lost the grublin army in the tunnels that traveled deeper into the mountain. _Oh great! Where did they go now!_ He thought traveling down the pitch black tunnel, stopping at a intersection with three tunnels. One marked with a single line, the next was marked with an X then the last marked with two lines. _Okay Spyro think, grublins are simple creatures you can figure out what symbol means what._

"Spyro!" came a voice out of the one tunnel. It was Cynder's voice. _Of course that the one tunnel would be the where they keep prisoners._

"Spyro! came another from the double line tunnel, it belonged to Aurora. _Cynder can hold herself in a fight, Aurora can't, I have to get to her first._

"Spyro," Came from the X tunnel this one sending chills down his spine. "C'mon purple boy!" The voice growled _Eclipse, he's taunting me but what if they're in locked cells and he has the keys. Then again what if they're not and instead he's trying to keep me away from them._ He looked between the three tunnels but couldn't chose which one to go down. "Let me make it easier for you, purple dragon." Eclipse announced then the two tunnels besides the middle disappeared, like they were never there. Spyro looked back at the walls were the other two tunnels were and wondered how such a thing was even possible "Oh, how fun your mind is fun to play with. Almost as fun as Cynder's." He stated.

"C'mon Eclipse! Come out and fight me!" He shouted down the tunnel, then out of nowhere Eclipse appeared.

"But you would miss the party downstairs." He mocked with fake saddened face after the cloud of smoke disappeared around him.

"Let them go!" Spyro shouted then tried to slash him with his claws. Eclipse just moved out the way and let Spyro hit the side of the tunnel causing bits of rock to go flying onto the ground.

"You got to come to the party first." Eclipse smiled, then disappeared in a cloud of black again. A laugh came down the tunnel in a high pitch. _Eclipse apparently became a hyena in a week. Good to know._ Spyro then raced down the tunnel following the trail of laughter that echoed down the tunnels. Then he tripped over something and hit the ground, turning around he saw a small golden bracelet. He picked it up and quickly slipped it on, he knew whose it was and that he could use it against Eclipse. He stopped as the tunnel left behind him and the feeling of a giant expanse around him greeted him. It was cold and silent, Spyro felt like he should know this room but he couldn't place it. The sound of Eclipse's laugh filled the room, Spyro looked around the expanse looking for the black dragon. He couldn't see anything and that's when torches started to light. The room started to be revealed slowly by the orange light of the fires. It was the ruin of the Well of Souls, where Malefor was released. It looked like nothing ever happened, like it didn't collapse those three years ago. At first he saw Eclipse, sitting in the center of the room with a wide smile. Then a cage next to what looked like a raised throne, the cage held the dragons he came here for. Cynder, Aurora, Ardere and Frost were sitting in the cage looking miserable, then Cynder jumped up and ran to the bars of the cage.

"Spyro! Watch out!" She yelled. Spyro turned around and saw why. Down from the ceiling came one of the biggest dragons he's seen but the size wasn't what he was scared of. The purple scales stood out to him more than anything has and the dragon's yellow eyes seemed to stare right into Spyro's soul. He landed with a loud thud that made Spyro need to regain his footing afterwards. It was Malefor, standing right in front of him, still very much alive.

" **Welcome Spyro! Long time no see, now please, take a SEAT!** " He said then smacked Spyro across the room with his paw. Parts of his armor went flying across the ground scattered around the room. He tumbled across the ground and stopped next to Eclipse. He tried to stand up but was immediately pushed down by the black dragon who smiled down at him. " **Oh Spyro, still trying to be the hero. When will you realize that the purple dragon is not meant to be the savior of this pathetic world?** " He laughed as he walked by, Eclipse then forced him to face Malefor as he walked to the cage.

"Don't you dare touch them!" He screamed as Malefor approached the cage. Spyro tried again to get up but Eclipse kept him pinned to the ground. Malefor peered into the cage and stared at the dragons within. He laughed again and sat down on the throne besides it. Eclipse then disappeared and Spyro was able to get up. He saw Eclipse reappear, laying down on the top of the cage with his tail blade sliding across the bars.

" **Tell me Spyro, how was the city? How was it being able to live a life without fighting every minute. It must have been wonderful.** " Malefor asked. Spyro just snorted in irritation.

"Let them go and I'll show you how it felt to be attacked by your lap dog over there." He threatened. Eclipse started to laugh and Malefor soon followed after.

" **My, my, Spyro. You've gotten more violent since we last met. What changed in you my purple brother?** " He wondered.

"I'm not your brother!" Spyro retorted.

" **Really Spyro, you and me, we're brothers by birthright to this destiny. I still don't understand why you can't see that we as the purple dragons have two options. One option is to enslave the dragon race and the other is to destroy the world. I don't quite recall where we save the dragon race and the world.** " He insisted.

"Well let me show you!" He screamed then started running at Malefor. Malefor just took a look towards the bored Eclipse.

Eclipse smiled then disappeared in a puff of black smoke. Malefor turned back towards the small purple dragon with a wide smile. Eclipse reappeared above Spyro and grabbed him around the chest. He flew to the ceiling and slashed Spyro's wings. Spyro screamed in pain then Eclipse dropped him, Spyro watched the rapidly approaching ground. Spyro struggled to even gild to the ground, the air just went through the holes in his wings. He hit the ground with a loud thud and groaned loudly. Eclipse calmly glided around in a circle, he jumped onto Spyro then jumped off with a smile and trotted away. Spyro got up and tackled Eclipse to the ground. He tried to bit down on Eclipse's neck but he disappeared then reappeared above Spyro. He crashed down on Spyro sprawling him across the ground. Eclipse jumped off him again and turned around to face him. "C'mon purple boy. You can do better than that." He mocked him. Spyro jumped up and shot fire towards him, Eclipse quickly smiled and returned with black fire. The two different flames met in the middle and shot upwards to the ceiling. Spyro started to slowly move forward keeping his flame trained on the insane dragon across from him. Eclipse's black flame however started to overwhelm Spyro's and it pushed forward at a quick pace. At the last second he rolled out of the way and the black flame surged forward almost scorching Spyro's tail, he felt the intense heat as it raced by him. He shot forward towards the black dragon faster than Eclipse could react. They went rolling across the ground, clawing and biting each other. Drawing the scars of battle across each other as well as make the other bleed. They stopped back in the center where Eclipse screamed in Spyro's ear forcing him to get off and almost making him deaf in the process. Eclipse then shot green acid at the purple dragon, hitting his shoulder. It burned into his shoulder causing him the yelp in pain as it disintegrated his scales and chewed into his flesh. Eclipse pushed him into the wall with a gust of wind, Spyro crumpled to the ground on impact. Spyro slowly got up and shot icicles at the black dragon, Eclipse quickly jumped out of the way but one of the icicles managed to piece into his shoulder. Eclipse growled then retaliated by spitting more acid at Spyro then shortly after disappearing. Spyro jumped out of the way and as Eclipse reappeared Spyro pushed him into the lines of the acid. Eclipse's acid burned off scales along his side and face soon after he collapsed in the pain. Spyro locked eyes with Malefor who only smiled at him. Spyro proceeded to run towards Malefor, rage filled his eyes. "Round two purple boy." Then the real Eclipse appeared in front of him and stabbed him in the burned shoulder with his black tail blade. Spyro screamed in pain and Eclipse flicked him off with ease sending him sliding and rolling across the ground and stopped in front of the metal cage. He looked at the contents. _I have to win. Eclipse must die. I must_ ** _destroy HIM!_** Then his scales flickered in color along with his eyes. Eclipse smiled wickedly at the now enraged dragon. "Finally, you that can actually do something." He stated then used his healing ability and looked good as new. The Black Spyro shot across the room and pushed him to the ground. He pushed electricity through Eclipse's body and Eclipse's body started to violently twitch and shake. Spyro then got off him and walked towards Malefor, this time no smile was on his face.

" **Well done young Spyro but that life will cost yours.** " He simply stated. Then Spyro was pushed onto the ground by the wind. Eclipse got up and and kept Spyro down, he smacked him across the head. The dark side of him retreated but the purple Spyro kept his eye's locked on Malefor. He heard Eclipse's hyena laugh on top of him and his tail blade landed across Spyro's face. Fear surged through Spyro's body but yet he accepted his fate. Spyro shut his eyes and waited for the coming end.

"Eclipse! Don't do it!" Came a voice from Spyro's right. He opened his eyes and looked toward the sound. It was Aurora who was pressed up to the edge of the cage, behind her was the others watched in horror. This is when he noticed that Ardere's mouth was closed tight by a metal restraint, so was Frost's. They couldn't get out even if they tried, the only thing they could do is watch him die. He felt Eclipse's pressure loosen but then quickly return on his shoulders. His tail blade flicked across Spyro's snout and Spyro stared at the metal weapon in front of him. This was the weapon that would end him, that would end any chance of survival of the dragon race.

" **Kill this purple traitor and we can continue the plan.** " Malefor ordered. Eclipse then raised his tail above Spyro's head and Spyro closed his eye's.

"Eclipse! You're better than this!" Cynder yelled to him from the cage. Once again his pressure on the back of loosened and the tail blade fell down on top of his head. He could feel the cold metal against his scales causing him to shudder of the sudden chill.

" **Ignore them. Finish your mission NOW!** " Malefor ordered again. Eclipse's pressure returned but his tail blade remain on top of Spyro's head.

"Eclipse, you can beat it back!" Cynder yelled. Malefor growled in her direction then turned back to Eclipse.

" **KILL HIM NOW!** " Malefor barked. Eclipse didn't move and instead loosened his pressure on the back of Spyro's shoulder. Spyro opened his eyes and saw the enraged Malefor staring down at them. Then he heard the seemingly impossible answer.

"No." Eclipse uttered.

" **What did you just say to me?** " Malefor questioned raising off his makeshift throne. His eye's locked with the black dragon. Eclipse lifted his paw off of Spyro and placed it in front of his face in a show of defiance and protection.

"I said NO!" He answered. Malefor now stood within striking distance of Eclipse. If he wanted to, he could kill Eclipse in one swift movement then execute him within that same movement.

" **What about the deal Eclipse? Your life for theirs.** " Malefor asked motioning to the cage that sat behind to him.

"I'll kill you before you get the chance." He threatened him, squinting his eyes. Malefor smiled at his threat.

" **Let's see about that!** " He shouted then raised his tail up. His tail blade ready to stab down on Eclipse. Eclipse was ready to disappear, picturing why he wanted to reappear in his head. The only question was if he could do it fast enough for him to dodge the blade but catch him off guard.

"NO!" someone screamed then his vision was clouded in white. Horror traveled through his body faster than the event played out before him. He couldn't believe it, he couldn't believe the scene that developed before his eyes, he didn't want to believe what just happened. The white faded downwards and he opened his mouth larger than he could before, then released the biggest gust of wind he ever created. The force of the wind was so great that Malefor was pushed all the way into the back wall and smashed into it making it crack under the pressure. His eye's turned down and his body went down with them. The cut ran deep into her chest, the blue and white scales around it stained red with a red pool began to slowly form beneath to her.

"Aurora, no." He whispered.

"I had to keep my own promise." She replied giving him a weak smile. His heart snapped in two when she did.

"I will come back." He promised then raised up slowly. His shattered heart filled with pure rage and hatred, his mind was focused on one thing. He wanted to taste Malefor's blood in his mouth and he wanted him to be dead more than ever. A loud growl erupted from his mouth as he stared daggers at Aurora's attacker. Malefor laughed as he got up from the wall and walked towards him. "Deals up. Now it's time for you to see how much I've truly changed." He threatened.

He shot forward start at Malefor smashing into his chest with every ounce of power he could muster. He landed on his feet then shot up, upper cutting Malefor with his entire body. The dragon staggered backwards and let out a deep growl. Malefor let out a wave of fire sweep across towards the black dragon. A black wall instantly formed in front of Eclipse and the fire converged into the wall and exploded on impact. The wall fell and Eclipse shot a green ball of acid at the purple dragon which he jumped out of the way of. Malefor smashed the ground sending a shockwave of rock rapidly approaching towards him. Eclipse disappeared just as the shockwave reached him and then reappeared behind Malefor. He encased Malefor in black fire but it was short lived when Malefor chilled himself causing the fire to instantly go out. Malefor back kicked Eclipse in the chest and sent him into the wall behind him. Malefor then launched himself at Aurora but Eclipse was able to appear above him and shove him into the ground below, quickly disappearing only to reappear higher above Malefor. Eclipse then spit more acid onto his back and shot down after it. The acid splashed onto his back and started to bubble and burn his scales into nothing. Eclipse then collided in the same spot and then quickly disappeared before Malefor could react to the hit. Malefor growled in pain and whipped around to look for the black dragon. Eclipse quickly reappeared in front of him slashed him across the face with his tail blade then disappeared. Malefor launched himself up just as Eclipse appeared above him, Eclipse's underbelly was stabbed by Malefor's six back spikes, cutting deep into his soft underbelly. Then he was crushed between the roof and Malefor when they hit the roof only pushing the spikes further into him, threatening to go all the way through to his back. Eclipse disappeared and fell to the ground as he reappeared next to Aurora. Blood leaked from the cuts in his stomach but he looked at Aurora who laid on the ground with her eyes slowly losing their soft blue color. He struggled to get up and disappeared as Malefor hit the ground. Reappearing on the roof he started dropping balls of black fire and acid then shortly fell with them. The attack hit across Malefor's top side and burned his scales away, exposing his back. His back spikes were all gone except for a single one that was only made dull. Eclipse slammed into the top of Malefor's head almost making him do a backflip. Eclipse sank his claws into Malefor's exposed head and made him growl in pain. Malefor reached up and grabbed him and threw him across the floor, making him land and bounce across the ground. He looked back and saw Spyro carrying Aurora back up the tunnel. Also Ardere and Frost dragging Cynder behind them and into the tunnel. _I have to win, I need to see Aurora and her smile again. I need to win for her._ He thought then shot forward, barely above the ground. All the sudden he transformed into four different Eclipses and started to attack Malefor all at once. They sliced and scratched, fired waves of poison,wind and black fire. When Malefor sliced one in half it just made two more and it irritated him greatly. Eclipse was starting to feel tired and quite dizzy. _If I keep this up, I'll end up collapsing._ Malefor smacked the real him into the wall and the other Eclipses disappeared. Eclipse saw Malefor smile as he came closer and he hated it to the core. Eclipse too smiled then disappeared, shortly reappearing at the other end of the room. He jumped onto the wall then shot off towards the lumbering purple dragon. He was across the room in seconds and slammed Malefor square in the chest. Turning his body up he latched onto Malefor's chest and with all his might he launched off to the ceiling. Right before they collided Eclipse let him go and disappeared. Malefor hit the ceiling but shot right back down. Eclipse reappeared on the ground and shot right back up towards the enraged Malefor. Eclipse smiled as the larger dragon barreled down on him. Malefor smiled back and they meet in the middle with a great slam.

Cynder fought the two dragons holding her back from flying down the tunnel and helping Eclipse. "Let me go!" She screamed at them. "I need to get back down there and help him." They didn't respond and kept dragging her up the cold tunnel.

"Cynder, he can handle himself. You should know that more than anyone." Aurora said weakly. Her blood has drenched Spyro's back and she was even more weak than before. Cynder hated seeing her in this state and wanted even more revenge against Malefor.

"He can't fight Malefor on his own! He needs our help." She yelled mainly directing it towards Spyro. He didn't respond and continued to in the opposite direction of the raging battle below.

"Cynder, please." Aurora cried softly.

"No! Aurora, you should know that Eclipse can't compare to him. I know it sounds harsh but even you should know that." She replied.

A silence followed as Cynder tried to escape the grasp of her two dragon restraints "Ardere, Frost. Let her go." Aurora asked them. They looked at her with uncertainty. "If she wants to go down there then she should go down there." Spyro didn't respond when Cynder was released but he turned his head back when she shot down the tunnel.

As she shot down the tunnel the sounds of cracking and crashing as well as cries of pain got louder. She reached the edge of where the tunnel met the chamber. Eclipse came flying across the chamber and into the wall next to her. Before she could even look at him he was already pushing himself off the wall and back at Malefor who stood at the other end. They made a loud bang as they crashed together. Eclipse and Malefor was sent backwards but Malefor caught himself right before the wall while Eclipse smashed into it. He dropped to the ground and was breathing heavy. His body was covered with cuts, gashes, bruises and even exposed flesh with burnt scales. One of his horns that came out of the top of his head was even broken, his claws were either covered in blood or snapped in half. One of his shoulders was covered in green dried liquid and his left eye tightly shut as blood ran down from a slice that went across his forehead. She looked across the room and saw that Malefor's complete back was covered in the same green liquid with some exposed patches of skin. They've done massive amounts of damage to each of other but it was obvious that Eclipse was starting to lose his momentum. Looking back at Eclipse she saw that he was staring at her.

"Get out of here Cynder, I can handle him. " He told her weakly.

"Look at yourself Eclipse! You get out of here and I will deal with him." She replied helping him up. A black mass grew inside some of his cuts and healed them to look good as new.

"Cynder I can handle him, you'll almost certainly die." He protested.

"Let me help you." She pleaded. He grunted and raced toward Malefor on the other side of the chamber. He started shooting fireballs toward Eclipse and started moving forward himself. Eclipse jumped and rolled out of the way of the balls of fire and sliced Malefor across the chest with his tail. Malefor smacked him out of the way into a side wall where he crumpled to the ground. Cynder launched herself at Malefor, claws outstretched. She hit Malefor and dug her claws into his neck. Malefor instantly snatched her tail in his mouth and flung her across the room, straight into a wall. She fell to the ground and looked up at the direction she came from. Eclipse has lodged himself onto the back of Malefor's neck and was biting down on it as well as stabbing Malefor's back with his tail. Cynder got up and shot towards them. Malefor managed to grab Eclipse and threw him at Cynder, the two dragons collided into each other and slammed into the ground. Eclipse was able to jump up and fire back towards Malefor aiming at the dragon's chest. They slammed and grappled each other. Cynder stood up and shot green acid at the pair of brawling dragons. Malefor swung Eclipse straight into the acid and Eclipse released Malefor's neck and dropped to the ground. Malefor raised his tail up and put it above Eclipse. Cynder launched herself forward and crashed into Malefor's side making his tail come down right next to Eclipse's head. Using her momentum, Cynder rolled underneath Malefor and jumped on him from the other side. She dug her claws in and jumped to the top of Malefor's head. Eclipse jumped up and planted himself on Malefor's neck but Malefor quickly grabbed Eclipse and flung him over his head. He shook Cynder until he was able to grab her and throw her to the ground. Eclipse quickly recovered and flew in front of Cynder in an effort to protect her. Cynder looked up and her nose was an inch from Malefor's tail blade. Then she realized what was stopping it, The blade went from one side of Eclipse to the other as he stood there all to still.

Eclipse could feel the blade inside of him, it felt cold and incredibly foreign. He looked up to Malefor who only smiled at him. Malefor twisted the metal and Eclipse felt amazing pain shoot all throughout his body. Then he did something that almost seemed impossible. He thought of the space above Malefor's head then disappeared in his familiar cloud of black smoke. He reappeared above Malefor and landed on the top of his head. He heard Malefor roared in pain, quickly looking down at Malefor's tail and saw that the blade was no longer connected, only a rough edge remained where the blade once was. He then turned around and saw the blade still protruding from his sides, he couldn't even feel it now. Then he used his healing ability to push the blade out and it landed onto the ground below Malefor with a sharp clang on the stone. Eclipse jumped back and slid all his claws down the back of Malefor's neck. The scales felt like rough leather under his claws as they were ripped out of his skin. Jumping down and turning around to face him, Eclipse quickly moved out of the way of two swift paws as Malefor tried to strike him. He let out a solid beam of green acid at the Malefor's chest. Malefor smacked him away with his giant paw and Eclipse lost the stream of acid as he tumbled across the ground but scratched his remaining claws along the ground, slowing him down. He looked up and saw Cynder grab the end of Malefor's tail blade and stabbed him at the base of the neck. Malefor quickly responded by grabbing her and throwing her into a wall near the tunnel. She crumpled to the ground and hopeful went unconscious because she didn't try to get up afterwards. Filled with rage from seeing him hurt her like that, Eclipse shot across the distance between him and Malefor getting ready to continue shooting acid at the Dark Master. Then another idea struck him and his mind became quickly convinced. He knew how to lock Malefor away forever but it would mean giving up a majority of his life force in order to do it, or he could die in the process. As he got closer he shot lines of black out of his mouth and they wrapped themselves around Malefor's wings and legs, tying them together. He stared down at the defeated purple dragon with pure hatred and the fire of anger roaring in him. Malefor just laughed at him.

" **How doe's it feel Eclipse? To be in a position of choosing life or death for another one of your kind. To truly be in that position, it's intoxicating. Isn't it?** " He asked with another laugh. " **What are you going to do?** "

"I'm going to seal you away in a place where you will never escape, ever again." Eclipse answered and Malefor knew what he meant almost instantly.

" **That's quite a risky move there Eclipse. That majority can end up becoming your entire life force especially in the state you're in now. Think about it, you will never get to live out your life, never get to see your sweet Aurora again and the life you could live with her, all gone. Are you ready, truly ready, to give that up?** " Malefor wondered.

"All I know is that if I die, you come with me." Eclipse stated then rose into the air, a small black ball began to form in front of him and smaller yellow orbs began leaving Eclipse. He already felt weak and now he felt ready to pass out.

"Eclipse!" Cynder screamed as she got up. He didn't respond and the ball slowly grew bigger, lighter and slowly traveled to Malefor. Cynder started limping towards him as fast as she could. The bigger orb was now starting to encompass Malefor, who couldn't do anything but lay there, helpless to Eclipse's magic. The smaller orbs was now turning into a deep orange and grew larger signaling the next part of his magic. The big orb was now a light grey and kept getting lighter. "Eclipse stop it! You won't survive this!" She pleaded to him but he couldn't hear her. He focused harder on the magic he was performing and the orbs became a bright red as well as the bigger orb turning white. Malefor was now completely encompassed by the white orb. Cynder was close to him now, she started to feel the draining feeling of the magic. "For ancestors sake stop this Eclipse!" She cried, just as she reached for him the orb around Malefor sent out a purple shockwave across the chamber. The force pushing Cynder back away from them and she was sent to the ground, tumbling across the floor. A purple beam shot up into the roof and into the rock ceiling above. Another shockwave was sent across the chamber, almost sending Eclipse across the room but he held strong against this superior force. He continued to send his own life force to the white orb, which was now turning back to gray. Two more shockwaves rapidly shot out of the now shrinking orb and smacked into the Eclipse. He was forced to dig his claws into the ground, leaving gashes into the rock as he skidded across the floor. The orb was turning back to black and now shrank to the size of Eclipse. Another shockwave, this time pure white, pushed Eclipse all the way back to the wall. He slowly moved back into place after feeling the brunt of three more white shockwaves. The orbs coming from Eclipse was now white and started to float around the still bigger orb. The main orb was now the size of Eclipse's head and sending out a steady supply of shockwaves. The shockwaves continued to hit Eclipse but he kept his claws dug in as deep as he could, resisting its urge to push him back. The steady stream of both shockwaves and orbs stopped, Eclipse released his claws, he was immediately thrown back into the wall on the other side of the room. He watched as the black orb changed to white and rapidly expanded to encompass the entire room then shrank faster than it had expanded. Once it hit the other side of the orb it exploded into a massive shockwave, it pushed Eclipse into the wall so hard he thought he might be crushed between the wall and overwhelming force.

Then the white orb was gone and the after effects started to come to Eclipse. The overwhelming feeling of fatigue and weakness controlled his body as he fell to the floor. It was over, dead silence fell over the large room for a second, the fire light still magically intact and still casted it's orange glow. Then the sound of crumbling and cracking filled the room, Eclipse looked around the chamber and saw the cracks that rapidly traveled up the walls and across both the floor and ceiling. As the rubble began to fall to the ground, he saw Cynder on the ground not moving and struggled to get up. He dragged himself over to her and weakly shook her attempting to get her to get up but to no success, she was out cold. He leaned down his wing and slid her over, onto his back. Her on his back only increased the pain of the injuries that scattered along his body and made his muscles ache even more. "C'mon Cyn, help me out here." He murmured under the sound of a collapsing chamber around them.

He struggled into the tunnel, Cynder heavy on his back, he had barely got up with just is own body weight now carrying her seemed almost close to impossible. He tried to use his ability to both heal and disappear but it didn't work. He couldn't gain more strength or teleport out of the tunnels, he had to either walk out or not come out at all. _I have to get her out. Even if it means holding up this mountain._ He went as fast as he could, dodging the falling rocks raining from the roof and make sure he didn't lose Cynder off his back. Some of the rocks bounced off of him and Cynder, after a piece of rock hit the top of head he had to force himself to keep going and not black out. He passed by another junction that was marked off by only Cynder and Ardere. He was so close to the surface now, he went faster and faster trying to beat nature in this race out of the collapsing labyrinth, he saw the white light of the outside realm in front of him. Before he could step out he tripped over a piece of rubble launching Cynder off his back and out of the tunnel but catching his leg. He looked down at his leg and tried to get it free from the rubble that trapped it in place.

"Eclipse!" He heard Ardere shout down the tunnel, he looked back up to the white exit. His eyes adjusted to the light and he saw Ardere's bright red scales next to Frost's pale blue. He looked back down and tried furiously to get his leg free but it was lodged in tight between the two pieces of rubble. He heard crumbling of rock from above him, then the lights went out and he lost all hope.


	13. Chapter 13

Cynder watched the rock come down on the entrance as she woke up. She looked around in a blind panic trying to find those familiar black scales on the grass but had no such luck. She struggled to get up, drawing the attention of Ardere and Frost and they rushed over. She fell back down but tried again as they reached her.

"Slow down Cynder." Frost told her.

"Eclipse is still in there! We need to get him out!" She cried as she fell down. "We can't just leave him to die in there!" She tried again to get up but failed again. She hit the ground with her fist and looked at the boulder.

"We can't Cynder, it would take to long to burn through or freeze it. He would either die of getting crushed or of suffocation." Ardere told her. She tried getting up but only succeeded in lunging forward.

"We have to at least try! Help me up I can use poison or something to burn a hole through! We have to at least try!" She screamed as she dragged herself to the boulder.

"Cynder please stop. His sacrifice was and will not be in vain." Frost responded coldly and moved in front of her.

"Frost move out of the way! I have to try! I just want to try." Cynder screamed. "Let me try." Cynder stopped in where she was and broke down into tears, she imagined Eclipse trying to dig out, trying to reach the other side. Ardere quickly got up punched the boulder as hard as he could. Frost put his paw on Cynder's shoulder in an small effort to comfort her but she didn't accept it only pushing it off. Ardere shot a stream of fire as hot as he could at the rock but it did nothing besides leave a black scorch mark. He did it again and again for hours, all the way into the night but it did nothing.

"Why won't it go through!" he yelled at the black rock. Then tried again but it sputtered into a puff of black smoke. He sat down in front of the rock and sighed. Cynder has calmed down a little but was curled in a ball and has been like that for hours, not responding to any attempt of communication from Frost. Frost has been watching Ardere the entire time, slowly losing hope of seeing Eclipse again. Cynder laid in a small ball and silently sobbed to herself. _Why am I cursed to see him die so many times. Why me? I'm completely worthless._

"He's done so much for us Ardere. He's defended us, led us, even at times had fed us. He put us above himself so many times. Eclipse even lost his life for us and sold himself to keep us safe from a force that he thought even had a chance at winning. He vowed himself to our protection and well being. Now, this is the second time he's lost his life all for us." Frost recalled. It was silent, only the sounds of the night was between the three. Ardere just stared at the rock and the black mark that his flame left but saddened at the sign of no hole. It was like this rock was being protected by the ancestors. _Why is this so unfair._

"He was always like that." Cynder related still wrapped in a ball.

"Always like what?" Ardere asked turning to her for the first time since the tunnel collapsed.

"He's always been the kind. Before I was saved by Spyro he would do most of the things you mentioned. He vowed himself to me and my well being. He defended me when I was weak, he often gave me his rations before we were generals basically feeding me and starving himself to near death, he was often the one to take the blame and punishments for the mistakes I made. I owed him too much to even begin to repay him. I loved him for this reason and he loved me too. When I saw him again I wanted to be there, to love him again, to feel wanted by the only kind dragon from my past." She revealed. "Now he's trapped down there, just like I was trapped years ago and I can't help him, I can't save him like he saved me so many times. I'm so useless!" She yelled as she sprawled herself out.

"You're not useless, if anyone here is useless Cynder. It's me." Ardere stated. "I can't even burn through a stupid rock."

"Truth is, I've been the most useless this whole time. What did I do to earn what I have from Eclipse?" Frost asked

"None of us has done anything to earn the things he's done for that matter." Ardere claimed

"The only one that really deserves any of this is Aurora. She's trusted him from the start, helped him with those nightmares that he's had, and she just took a tail blade to the chest for him. She's the reason that he came back in the first place, now she's dying with him. Those two are practically meant for each other." Cynder corrected grimly.

Frost smiled and Ardere raised an eyebrow along with Cynder. "Imagine it Ardere, Uncle Frost!" He laughed. Cynder giggled at Frost's obvious attempt to lighten the mood and he started to laugh so hard he fell onto his side.

"Uncle Frosty! Can you make it snow?" Ardere mocked, mimicking hatchling's tone then fell back onto his side laughing, Cynder now in a full blown laughing fit along with him. Frost just continued to smile.

"Uncle Ardy! Does Uncle Frosty have to put you out?" Frost mocked. Ardere's laughing quickly stopped and he stared daggers at the ice dragon. No one noticed that Cynder replaced laughs with tears. She stared at the ground as the tears slowly fell onto the grass.

"You okay Cynder?" The sound of a thump besides her made her turn her head around. It was Spyro, she noticed that most of his injuries were gone except some little cuts and bruises. His entire back was a unique tint of red, it almost seemed like he was slowly becoming a normal red dragon like Ardere, this just reinforced her sadness. She was glad to see him but she just put her head down, looking towards the two laughing dragons.

"I don't know Spyro, look at them. They're like brothers when their not even really related. The three of them are one happy family. It makes me wish I could've at least met someone from my actual family, like my mother or father even if it was a brother or sister at least it would be someone.

"You're not alone, I haven't met anyone of my real family." Spyro replied laying down right next to her.

"Spyro, you have family. Nina, Flash and Sparx, I don't have that. I didn't have a adoptive mother or father or siblings. The closest family I ever had is trapped behind the boulder dying, if he's not already dead. Soon I won't have a family to go to when I need help or someone to listen to my sorrow, I'll be alone." Cynder told.

"What about me Cynder? Do I not count as family?" Spyro asked

"You're different Spyro. Yes, you were one of the closest things I could call family for what, 4 years? Now there's Eclipse, the only dragon that I've know from the beginning. The only dragon that honestly cared for me as a living being and not as a simple piece of property. Now as I said before he's now basically dead behind that boulder, we can't get through to him so if he is still alive we can't save him." She explained.

"Eclipse is trapped?" He asked then got up. Cynder followed him with her eyes as he walked over to the huge rock.

"Ardere said that he got his foot trapped between two pieces of rubble while he was carrying me out. They saw him and were about to help when the boulder fell down and blocked the way to him." She explained.

"Why haven't you gone to get an earth dragon like Terrador or me? We could've had this boulder out of the way a while ago." Spyro responded. Then started to move the rock but then it fell down and blocked the tunnel again. Spyro grunted and tried again, this time it didn't even move. "That's weird, usually I can move rocks like this." He sighed then tried again which only harbored the same results.

"It's no use Spyro, I've already tried burning a hole through but it didn't even make a dent." Ardere responded with a sigh.

"But I can't use my earth element to move it. The element which literally controls rocks can't move it." Spyro protested

"Guys," Frost started

"Yeah?" They all said in unison while also turning to him

"I think Eclipse is just destined to die in there." Frost continued

"NO! He's done too much to deserve a death like this, he deserves to grow old, have a family and live out his life, not die in a collapsed tunnel." Cynder argued.

"Cynder, if Spyro can't move it then it must be true." Frost stated.

"What if we get Terrador? He's the earth guardian he should be able to move it." She protested and turning in the direction of Warfang.

"He's too busy-" Spyro started

"Too busy to save someone's life. Spare me the lecture Spyro." Cynder quickly rejected coldly. She took off to the air towards Warfang in hopes of finding someone who was actually useful.

Eclipse sat in the tunnel, his leg finally free but his ability to get out of the tunnel has not returned and the small space in which he's trapped in was started to grow stale with the lack of oxygen. He could hardly see in the darkness but there wasn't much to see in his death hole besides rock. All he could do, was wait to die. _At least everyone else is safe. That's all that matters. They probably think I'm dead which is what I will be in a few minutes._ He looked back at the boulder that blocked his way out and realized that his acid from earlier has dried up and is now just a green sludge. That was his first thing against the rock, spitting acid on it, the acid did slowly make a hole but that was over the course of a dreadful few hours and it wasn't very big. At the rate it was going he would end up dying before it even made it halfway. He carelessly spit more acid onto the same spot and put his head down again. _I hope Aurora will make it out okay, I guess my promise is broken but it's not like I can keep it anymore. Hopeful she finds the letter I wrote, she does have a right to know those things but she already knows all of them._ Then the rock lifted up and revealed a small portion of the outside but it quickly fell down. A small hole was still open and he could barely put his eye to it. He looked around saw Spyro and Cynder yelling at each other.

"He's too busy-" Spyro started but Cynder stopped him

"Too busy to save someone's life? Spare me the lecture Spyro." Cynder rejected coldly. Then she went out of sight, most likely into the air for he heard wing beats. He heard Spyro sigh and turn around to the rock.

"Spyro, you know she's going to come back with Terrador, weather Terrador wants to or not." Ardere stated.

"You're right but until then we should keep trying. I moved it once so I can move it again." Spyro claimed.

"You guys mind as well stop. I know it's harsh, believe me I want to get him out of that tunnel as much as you do but reality is that he may have maybe an hour or two of air left in there. If he didn't die of being crushed first." Frost sighed

"Then I'm going to use that two hours to move the rock and not to mention that oxygen was able to flow in when I lifted it the first time so you're wrong." Spyro protested. Eclipse backed up, finding new hope out of the attempting rescue, he started to launch a steady stream of acid at the rock, but with the still fresh after effects of sealing Malefor away it was only a short while after that he collapsed to the ground. He wasn't strong enough to keep it going for the right amount of time. _C'mon Eclipse! Get up! Don't let a inanimate rock defeat you!_ He thought then got up with some difficulty and continued spraying the rock in acid. He could see a small indent in the rock but fell down again in fatigue. The acid bubbled and sizzled on the rock and continued to borrow through the only reason he's here.

The rock rose up but shortly fell down, cutting off his air supply. He had to work with what air he had left. _Get up! You are Eclipse! The same Eclipse who's taken beatings from entire dragon villages! GET UP!_ He screamed at himself. He got up again and continued his barrage of acid onto the rock. The hole was more noticeable now and the acid was starting to do even more work. He collapsed to the ground again, his body was too tired but he needed to break through this rock. The rock shifted again rising from the ground the light crawled into the tunnel and oxygen flowed in. He could almost crawl under the rock but it fell again, leaving him another small hole. He felt power surged through him and he got up. Pushing all this new found power into his acid and spraying it on the rock. As the acid hit the rock it turned into a deep black and mixed into the previous green, they mixed together, spiraling in a green and black vortex. He could hear the rock sizzle away, as the acid was burning through the rock. The hole was now what seemed like halfway through but Eclipse didn't get his hopes up. The fatigue from before started to return but he continued his work on the rock trying to resist the urge to fall again. The rock shifted upwards but Eclipse didn't stop instead moving his head up to continue on the same spot. With the feeling of fatigue growing at a steady pace, the spray started to lose it pressure and color, it slowly turned back to green and Eclipse's legs began to shake under his own body weight. He held out for as long as he could, putting as much acid on the rock but he eventually fell to the ground breathing hard. _C'mon, one more time. Just one more time…_ Eclipse then passed out with Aurora's image in his head, he accepted that he would die down here. He accepted that the ancestors had finally decided to end his time here in the physical realm.

Cynder landed on the ground and instantly started running to the Guardian chamber as fast as she could. Racing through the streets dodging dragons and moles, jumping over small vendor stands and groups of hatchlings. She saw the building ahead of her and almost broke down the door. Rushing down the stairs and into their council chamber, she saw only Cyril and Volteer. "Where is Terrador!" She quickly asked.

"He should be at the breach in the walls." Volteer answered

"Where!" She yelled

"North Wall." Cyril responded. Cynder then turned around and bolted out the door. She took the sky as soon as she was outside and shot towards the north wall. She frantically searched for the massive green dragon she needed. He was watching a group of earth dragons place stones in the breach, attempting to fix it. She landed right next to him with a great thud. Terrador looked at her in confusion then noticed how frantic she looked.

"Is everything all right Cynder?" He asked calmly which annoyed her greatly.

"Eclipse is trapped behind a boulder and we can't break it. We need your help." She quickly explained.

"But Eclipse has returned to Malefor's side." Terrador pointed out with confusion.

"He's the reason I'm talking to you right. He sealed Malefor away and saved me along with everyone else. Now he needs our help, now I really don't care about the wall right now, all I care about is saving Eclipse because he's done more things for our city within a month then you've done within five. So would you please follow me and help me with keeping Eclipse alive." She argued.

"I can't do that Cynder, I'm trying to rebuild the wall. If I-" Terrador tried

"Terrador, I won't take no for an answer." Cynder warned, a slight red tint took to Cynder's eyes. Silence sat between the two and they seemed to be having a staring contest. Finally Cynder won.

"Fine, lead the way. I'll try my best." He sighed then lifted into the air behind Cynder.

Eclipse awakened after a unknown length of time and laid there counting all the times he's died. The rock continued to shift up and down but it has yet to fully be removed from the entrance of his grave. The acid has long stopped, the black and green mixture has now become hardened like the rock it tried to burn away. _This time there's no coming back. This is how the ancestors want to kill me, trap me in a hole and watch me die of thirst or starvation or simply blood loss._ He thought for how many lives he's taken and how many he's scared in the process. He thought of how many dragons will never see their families again because of him.

"Spyro." He called out to the purple dragon.

"I'm getting you out Eclipse, don't worry." Spyro called back from the small hole. Eclipse stared at the purple liquid that was slowly rising up from deeper in the fallen tunnels. He found a small pebble and threw it into the pool, it splashed then slowly sizzled away.

"Spyro, just stop." He ordered. Eclipse stared at the purple acid and mentally whacked himself. _Why did I have to open my big mouth._

"No Eclipse, you're going to get out of there." Spyro denied as he moved the boulder up only for it to fall back down with a heavy thud. _So the ancestors are going to painfully kill me with acid. Fair enough. I can strangely respect that seeing as I used that often._

"Spyro this is how I'm destined to die. You can't save me from this." He yelled. _Goodbye Aurora, Cynder, Frost, Ardere. I failed you all._

"Eclipse, no!"

"Tell Aurora that I love her and goodbye." He cried back. The acid was almost upon him now, every time it bubbled and splashed onto him it burned with horrible pain. He didn't move, he knew this death was inescapable.

"Eclipse! You are going to say that to her yourself." Spyro told him, Eclipse could hear the struggle in his voice from lifting the sealing stone on his tome. The acid was now on the tip of his tail and horrible pain filled his body as it acid slowly traveled up his already destroyed scales. He cried out in pain but didn't move from his spot.

"SPYRO! SEAL THE TUNNEL!" He screamed at Spyro.

"I'm not leaving you down there!" Spyro yelled back. Eclipse cried out in pain again as the acid continued to cover over his ruined body.

"I'M NOT GOING TO MAKE IT! SEAL THIS STUPID TUNNEL!" Eclipse ordered again. It became silent except for the sound of the bubbling acid as it slowly engulfed him. It was just above his back legs and it burned with great intensity. He looked back at the rock, it was remained still and no light was coming from the outside. A tear traveled down his face, he knew this is where it ends. The acid reached halfway up his chest and he could feel it take his scales apart, ever so slowly and painfully. He looked down and saw the bracelet that he recovered from Spyro. Raising it above his head he stared at the white diamonds that reminded him of the dragoness he loved dearly, the dragoness he would never see again. He muffled his own cry of pain as it slowly ripped him apart, not wanting to show weakness in his last moments. Another tear escaped his eye as the acid reached the base of his throat he started to cough as it burned through his scales and into his inner throat. He could hardly breath now with the air just leaving through the acid burned holes. He felt the acid slowly burn closer to his heart but his heart stayed strong against the deadly liquid formed by nature. He closed his eyes as he felt the acid continue to burn him into nothing, in his mind a picture of Aurora appeared with her loving and caring smile. He was able to smile through the pain, he felt the acid as it reached his chin and up to his mouth. It leaked through his disintegrated teeth and burned the back of his throat. A tear sizzled immediately after it left his eye and he prepared himself to never see his friends again. _So this is where it ends. It ends with me being turned into nothing by a weapon that I used on innocent lives. I guess this is only fair._ He dared not open his eyes again but the acid was already completely

He heard something heavy move above him but thought it was his small portion of hope that still hung on by a shallow thread. He felt himself get pulled out of the tunnel and be put on the a soft surface. He opened his eyes and was greeted by the blue color of the sky. He turned his head to the side and saw the green grass. He felt the grass for the first time in almost a week and he was so happy to feel it under his surviving scales. He heard the very present sound of his own straggling breath as well as heavy panting.

"We made it, we made it." A familiar voice stated.

"Cynder?" He asked, sounding weaker than he expected. He turned to the source of voice and saw the black dragoness in question. "What is a lady like you doing out here?" He gave her a weak smile, causing her to laugh slightly.

"He needs red crystal treatment now or else he'll die of his burns and injuries." said another more deeper voice, he only guessed it could be Terrador, the only guardian he has yet to fully trust. He felt himself get lifted and placed onto a hard but smooth surface. He saw green scales underneath him and knew he was on Terrador's large back. He saw the ground grow smaller, as well as more dragons behind them. The familiar colors of black, red and blue scales flying up made him smile. Then the purple scales came into view and made his smile bigger. _They tried to rescue me even after what I did to them and the city._ The black scales grew larger and eventually the red also appeared in a single strip. He heard the wing beats as she flew closer to him.

"I'm so sorry Eclipse." She apologized once she was flying next to him.

"There is no reason to apologize to me Cynder, you've did nothing to wrong or hurt me." He responded with another weak smile but it seemed to make her feel even worse.

"I've caused you so much trouble and I got in the way and-" She explained but Eclipse weakly placed his paw on her lips, silencing her.

"Cynder, you're no trouble to me at all. I mean, you just saved me from that acid. You have no reason to apologize. I'm the dragon who should be sorry." He assured her. Then his paw fell down, dangling off Terrador's side and his mangled chest stopped rising him up instead it kept him flat against the green scales. His eyes looked at her unblinking and the whizzing sound of his breath went silent.

"Eclipse?" She asked, her voice faltering. "Eclipse, this isn't funny." She pleaded. She noticed that Terrador turned his head around and was looking at the limp paw that hung off his side. "Eclipse, please stay with me." She pleaded but it fell on silenced ears. "No, Eclipse, please don't leave me alone."

Aurora stared up at the unchanging, boring, pure white ceiling as she lay in a hospital bed with a large, red stained bandage covering the top of her chest. Her head seemed to spin in a million different ways as she stared at the white ceiling. She looked down at her chest and sighed. _I wonder if Eclipse is still alive and Cynder for that matter._ She could still see some of her scales that were pink and red as well as where the large puncture began. It was a true miracle that Malefor missed her heart when she jumped in the way but even then he still stabbed her square in the chest with one of the biggest tail blades in dragon history. She looked around the room and only saw a lone mole, mopping the stainless white floor. She let out a large sigh and looked back to the roof, the unchanging, boring, white roof.

The door flew open and in came a panicked Cynder and Terrador. She pushed herself up to see them and what they were doing. Cynder quickly went into the back room while Terrador came towards her, except he walked passed her and she saw something that terrified her. The mangled body of Eclipse, set on top of Terrador's back. She pushed herself off her hospital bed, falling to the floor in the process, and followed Terrador towards the back of the room. Terrador placed Eclipse onto one of the hospital beds and Aurora was instantly at his side. She looked over him frantically, she saw all his burns, exposed patches of skin, cuts, bruises, his broken horn. She ran her paw on his one good cheek and looked at his closed eyes.

"What happened?" She asked.

"Purple acid, most likely a Malefor fail safe, in case he ever failed." Terrador answered, scrambling through a medical cabinet which hung on the wall next to the bed. She noticed that he had a bracelet around his right paw and a tear escaped her eye. She removed the bracelet slowly from his paw and looked at it. The bracelet made a cracking noise as it came off the owner's arm. Most of gold was melted away or seared black, while some patches were not even there. She spun it around in her paw, she continued to see the missing white diamonds but then she saw one. It was perfect, no scratches or marks, it even shined in the orange light of the ceiling lamps. Then she noticed the slight red hue in the diamond, it was the same diamond as when he ran away. Another tear rolled down her cheek.

"Is he alive?" She asked continuing to stare at the diamond in disbelief also with a tear falling on it.

"No." Terrador answered quickly, as he pulled out a bottle full of red liquid.

"What's that." She wondered peering up from the charred bracelet.

"It's a liquid form of red crystal. We would use it for internal injuries such as when a fire dragon's fire breath, ironically, backfires." He answered opening the bottle with a twist of the cap. The red liquid began to glow inside the bottle changing their part of the room into a red hue. He put his paw behind Eclipse's back and lifted him up, he slowly poured the liquid down Eclipse's charred throat. He then lowered him back to the bed and threw the bottle to the ground. A red light appeared out of Eclipse mouth signaling that it was working. Once it faded Terrador put his ear to Eclipse's mouth then shortly after started to pump on his chest, trying to put air into his lungs. Cynder ran back in the room with both an arm full of red crystal and a mole in a white coat.

"You're not going to get anywhere without another bottle of red crystal and a bottle of green crystal."

"Why green crystal?" Terrador asked as he went through the same medical cabinet next to him.

"The heart and lungs need a jumpstart, at least for you dragons. Since you have such large hearts and lungs even at his stage in life." He explained while also going through another cabinet. "Don't apply any of those crystals yet." He told Cynder, then pulled out another bottle of the red liquid. The mole quickly poured the liquid down Eclipse's throat then went back to the cabinet. Terrador pulled out a bottle with green liquid.

"Got it!" He told the mole, the mole stopped searching the cabinet and turned back to Eclipse. A green light replaced the red as Terrador applied the bottle. He then started to pump Eclipse's chest again. It seemed like everyone held their breaths, the only sound was of Terrador trying to desperately revive Eclipse back from the dead.

 **A/N One left guys, one last chapter. I'm sad to say that this story is coming to a horrible end. I hope you guys enjoyed the story. Until next time folks... ENJOY!**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N Here we go guys. The last chapter of The New Eclipse. I Hope you guys enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Until Next Time Folks... enjoy.**

It was like that day when Eclipse died in front of her. His mind was an empty shell, nothing but a black abyss. Only the muffled sounds of the outside occupied the large expanse of space around him. A bright light appeared in a rectangle from behind him casting different colors across the expanse. Then another and another and before he knew it, the space was full of bright rectangles. He looked at the closest one and saw the picture of him with Aurora on the side of a lake. Her head carefully resting on his shoulder as they looked across the body of water. It was sunset, and the sun shined down on the lake making the water a darker color. The sky filled with different kinds of the color purple and orange. That was his favorite memory, he also knew of the picture that the moles made for him when he was able to get settled into the city. He forced himself to move to the next picture, which was of when he and Cynder were first transformed into Gaul's servants. He was standing face to face with a small number of Apes that had been treating Cynder horribly. This was one of the few times he honestly enjoyed the taste of others blood as his lighter self also the first time he defended Cynder. He felt an urge to tap it to see if it would do anything, the picture came to life and the scene played out before him.

" **Stay away from her!** " He shouted at the group of apes.

"What are you going to do if we don't?" The middle ape laughed and was soon followed by the rest of the troop. He could physically feel his mouth curve into a demented smile, directed to the apes. He laughed with his own hyena-like laugh which silenced them almost instantly. He could see the fear creep over all of their faces

" **I'll kill you so slowly that you would wish you died before you even knew me."** He threatened, with the wicked grin. " **I don't need any special dragon powers to kill a bunch of low life apes.** "

Eclipse then walked away, drawn to another one of his memories. It showed the time of when he faced off against that past image of himself. He touched the memory, interested in it and it began to play out like deja vu.

The dragon began to laugh maniacally " **You should know me Aurora. It's the one true Eclipse, the Eclipse that sought to kill you. Now I found you and I can complete my mission.** " It said with an echoed voice. He began to growl at the dragon.

"You won't touch her! Not with me still breathing!" He threatened his former self after finding the courage out of a threat made to Aurora. "You won't touch any of those three!"

" **You can't hope in killing me weakling, for I am apart of you. I am the real you, your future and your past.** " The dark dragon retorted with a returning growl.

"You are no longer my future. My future sits with these three and not as a sad little puppet." He stated coldly. The dragon laughed again and stared behind him most likely at Aurora. Eclipse looked back at her then quickly back at the dragon in front of him. "If you want her then you need to kill me first." He stated.

" **That can be quickly arranged.** " It said then hit Eclipse with its paw sending him sideways into a tree. The memory went black for a second then the picture was displayed again. He saw the dragon slowly move towards Aurora with a smile.

"NO!" Eclipse shouted then shot into the dragon's side with all the force he could, the force sent the dragon into a tree, nearly knocking the tree over. He growled at the dragon as it got up. "I SAID **YOU WILL NOT TOUCH HER!** " His voice becoming demonic but he quickly realized and adjusted it. "AS I LIVE SO DOES SHE!"

Then the memory stopped with him staring down the dragon. He looked down at himself, feeling something near his feet and saw that he was slowly disappearing. He panicked but he knew what was happening. Eclipse needed to see one last memory before he was completely gone. He rushed down the line passing by memories he didn't want to see, which was most of them. He found the memory he wanted and instantly tapped it making it begin.

He watched her silently enter the woods alone, then he followed her. He almost lost her in the dark forest but the small clearing she laid in made itself visible to him. Her white scales glittered in the moonlight, making her look like a new angel. "He almost died today… for me and the others." She stated softly. Unknowing that the dragon in question was silently watching and listening from the brush behind her. "He defended us when something stronger than him tried to kill us. I only watched as he was thrown around, stabbed and chewed on. He walked onto death's doorstep because of us. Maybe I should leave with Ardere and Frost, so he doesn't get hurt anymore. It's unfair of us to stay with him and make him fight for us when we can't even fight ourselves." She looked to the ground. "At least I can't." That's when he made his entrance, he silently walked over and sat down next to her. She didn't even flinch at his appearance and just continued talking to the stars above. "Yet at the same time he trusted me enough to show me his darkest secrets and share his nightmares of the past. I helped him through those nightmare but I can't help wonder why me?" She turned to him like she knew he was there the entire time. Her blue eyes full of curiosity and wonder, dazzled Eclipse almost sending him into a trance. "Why me Eclipse? I'm not someone who knows how to deal with these things. I mean, why do you trust me some much? I've honestly done nothing to earn this trust or for you to become my guardian angel, to literally die for me." She asked him. He looked up into the sky and silently thought about his answer.

"Maybe it's because, you stood by me even when you had no idea what my intentions were or maybe it's the way you looked at me but you trusted me from the beginning. So I trusted you. I showed you my abilities because I thought you had a right to know. I protected you because of a promise I made to myself about you making it to Warfang whether I lived or died on the way. Earlier today when that dragon came walking out of those trees, I mentally said to myself that 'today, I die for you.' I knew that I couldn't beat him without the cost of my own life. When It came to me choosing life or death, I almost chose death. I wanted to rid myself of this world so badly and fate gave my that decision. It tested whether or not I believed that in the end. In the end, I chose life because of you, I wanted to continue to keeping that promise." He explained looking back at the stars. "I thought that my complete death would just make this world better. A place where little hatchlings aren't going to bed fearing that they would wake up to a destroyed village. 'One less murderer in the world' I said in front of that black door, I fully knew what waited for me on the other side. Then my thoughts drifted to you, your amazing smiles that seemed to light the world, the times which that you helped me deal with the nightmares of my past, and you most adorable laugh when I would tell you a stupid joke. Your snow white scales that made me tell myself that everything was fine and your blue eyes that calmed me after a memory or nightmare. You're the sole reason that I'm still here in this world, sitting next to you and telling you this. If I hadn't met you or you were different, I would have walked through that black door. You are the only thing that I continue to live and fight for. " He smiled at her and she returned with a small smile. "I would fight that vision of the past again and again if I had to to keep you safe." He confessed. "I can tell you one thing, I think Ardere and Frost would just run with tails between their legs like those dogs things." He tried, she laughed a little. "There's that cute laugh I was talking about."

Silence stood between them as they looked at the sky above that was littered with the friendly light of the stars and moon. The stars were shining as bright as the full moon that stood out like light surrounded in the darkness. No clouds were in the sky and there wasn't any wind to carry them in to block the view. They looked at one another, his shining silver eyes stared into her twinkling blue eyes. Eyes closed, they leaned closer to each other and planted their lips onto the others. Eclipse felt all the weight of the world just melt off of his shoulders and his mind was put to complete ease. It seemed like every horrible memory of the past faded away from his mind like they were never there. This is where he wanted to be, this is where he needed to be. It felt like forever until the pulled away but when they did, they continued to stare at each other's eyes. Another silence followed between the two dragons remained, locked in place. Then Aurora broke it with three single words. "I love you."

"I love you too." He admitted then leaning in, kissing her again. She looked away from him and to the ground. With his dark, element of illusion, he grew irises, roses and different kinds of flowers around them. She gasped then laughed as more flowers grew around her.

She watched as the beautiful flowers of pink, purple and white almost naturally appeared from the ground. She looked back up at the dragon who was causing this and he smiled gently at her. Eclipse then picked up an iris, he knew it was her favorite flower, and spun it in between his claws. He then used his element to turn it into a necklace of flowers. She smiled at him as he put it around her neck and smiled back.

During the memory his legs had completely disappeared and his body was disintegrating piece by piece, into small white diamonds which floated away before they disappeared above him. He looked around trying to find any signs of a white door that lead out of this place and to his loved one but there was no such door. _This is where it ends, in my own reflection pool, in my own hall of memories._ He stared back at where the memory ended, he stared at her pretty white face and her soft blue eyes. He looked down again and his body was almost gone. He started to sob lightly while looking upon his former lover's face. His neck was now starting to disappear, he headbutted the memory and it cruelly replayed the end where they said that they loved each other, only causing him to cry more. He banged the memory again and again, replaying the same moment over and over again. His tears made dark streaks down his already dark face and they hit the ground without a sound. He looked at the image of Aurora again. "I love you. I love you so much. I hope you know that. I love you so much, Aurora." He cried then his mouth disappeared and closed his eyes for the last time. _Goodbye Aurora, I love you._

Aurora only watched as they frantically tried to bring back Eclipse. The only dragon she loved with all her heart, laid across a hospital bed, unresponsive to everything that they tried. Aurora couldn't help but let the tears fall as nothing happened with Eclipse. He continued to lay there, not moving and eyes forever closed. They tried everything, both green and red crystal both liquid and solid, classic C.P.R., when Spyro arrived they even shocked him with electricity but he was gone and he wasn't coming back. He wasn't going to preform any miracles and jump off the bed so they can live happily ever after. They weren't going to grow old together or be together forever, the promise was shattered just like her heart. Hours passed by and while everyone else slowly left, Aurora stayed by his side. She looked up at the closest skylight to see the stars above. "He died today, for me and the entire dragon race. He died beneath that mountain and I left him there." Tears returned as she talked to the stars above, wishing she could make a wish on a shooting star that didn't fly above. "I lost him to the ancestors. He died while fighting his old master in order to protect us. He risked his life for everyone and payed for it with his very own. I left him down there to die! I shouldn't have left with Ardere, Frost and Spyro. I should've-I should've-" She stuttered. "I should've loved you more." She cried. She placed her head on his still destroyed chest and sobbed into it. Her tears slid down her face and into his many wounds. She stayed like that for a good while, crying into Eclipse's faithfully still chest. She finally lifted her tear ridden face and looked at Eclipse. She shifted her head closer to his. His eyes remained closed and forever staring up at the roof of his eyelids. Her tears rolled down her face and she leaned closer. She placed her lips upon him and locked them in place for one last time. She reluctantly pulled away from him but kept her eyes on him. "I love you Eclipse. I love you more than you'll ever know." She fell asleep shortly afterwards, wishing for the ancestors to work miracles

She woke up with her head on Eclipse's silver chest. She felt something warm and soft around her and realized it was a white blanket. _That mole doctor must have come in late and put this around me. That was nice of him._ She looked back to Eclipse and saw that he was good as new. She jumped back causing a nearby rolling table to fall over. She stood up quickly and looked at him, nothing was wrong with him. He had no cuts, no bruises, no burn, no missing scales, no exposed bones, even his horn was fixed. She checked his chest putting her ear right up against it. She heard the thumping of his heart, it was amazing. She looked to his head but his eyes weren't open, instead they were closed shut. She still laughed and kissed him pressing her lips hard against his own. She pulled back and saw his eyes open in shock then relaxed once his eyes focused on her. She laughed again then he pulled her down into a strong embrace.

"You're alive! You're alive, thank the ancestors." She cried softly while in his embrace. He smiled at her.

"It's take more than acid and the Dark Master himself to keep me away from you." He told her in his goofy grin. She laughed again as she pulled away.

"I can't believe you're alive." She said pulling him into another embrace still laughing joyfully.

"You've done it again Aurora, you saved me." He state with a small laugh.

"You saved me." She responded. The stayed in their embrace for what seemed like hours. Until someone else entered the building, they left their embrace and turned to the dragoness that walked in. The dragoness dropped the flowers that were in her paws and ran over to the two rejoicing dragons. Cynder grabbed Eclipse around the neck and held him against her, with tears of joy rolling down her face.

"What's a lady like you doing here?" He joked.

"Don't you start with me now Eclipse." She denied.

"C'mon Cyn, I can't have some fun after I just survived a pool of acid. That's kind of cheap if you ask me." He continued.

"You're alive and that's all I care about." She replied pulling away. "In the future try and not get engulfed by purple acid." She said with a playful wink.

"Oh, so it's okay for you to joke around but I'm not. I say again cheap!" He exclaimed throwing one of his arms up, pointing one of his claws into the air. Both Cynder and Aurora started to laugh. Eclipse smiled and put his arm down, he watched as the two dragonesses laughed. While they laughed three more dragons entered the building behind them.

"Cynder, we all want to say goodbye to Eclipse but-" He cut himself off and the two dragons next to him stopped dead in their tracks. Eclipse smiled as he saw the scales of fiery red, ice blue and bright purple. "Eclipse!" Frost and Ardere shouted in unison, Spyro quickly following behind. They pulled him into a tight hug.

"Hey guys." He laughed out of the hug. "I'm back. Did you miss me?" Eclipse asked them. Aurora and Cynder began to laugh again.

"You nearly gave me a heart attack when you didn't come back." Spyro answered, all heads turned to him. "What? He's the only one to beat me one on one. I need to learn his secrets." He explained while pretending to punch someone which caused everyone to laugh.

After a green light from the doctor, everyone except Aurora left the infirmary. They walked to the Guardian's Chamber's with the intent of finding out the Guardian's ruling on what Eclipse's punishment should be, seeing that he's now completely alive and well. Eclipse held his head low for the short trip, the infirmary was close to the chamber after all. As they entered the chamber they were greeted by a pair of dragons who escorted them into the chamber. Eclipse was separated from the others and pushed into the center of the room. He stood in front of the three Guardians, their stern gaze locked upon him. To his left is where everyone was, Spyro, Cynder, Ardere, Frost, even Flame and Ember. He felt like his legs ready to give out underneath him and he felt like every butterfly in the world was in his stomach.

"State your name." Cyril ordered.

"My name is Eclipse, sir." He responded bravely.

"Eclipse, you have been convicted of multiple war crimes and genocide of the dragon race. Do you plea guilty or not guilty of these crimes?" Cyril asked while looking down at a scroll.

"I plead guilty to these charges." Eclipse answered. The guardians quickly exchanged glances, seemingly in disbelief of his answer.

"Is it true, that during your confrontation with Dark Spyro that you used your own darker side against him?" Volteer questioned.

"This is true." Eclipse confessed.

"Is it true, that after your confrontation with Spyro, that you left in order to seek out Malefor or also known as, the Dark Master?" Cyril asked.

"That is not entirely true." Eclipse answered

"Then why did you leave?" Terrador asked with a small bit of anger leaking through.

"I left because I feared that before I was able to completely suppress my dark side that I would end up hurting and/or killing someone else." Eclipse explained flawlessly.

"Is it true, that when you found Malefor, you willingly agreed to serve for him again?" Volteer questioned.

"That is true." Eclipse confessed

"Finally, is it true that after reuniting with Malefor you ordered the attack on Warfang?" Terrador asked.

"That is also true." He answered lowering his head. He heard the gasp from the small group that stood to his left. Eclipse knew that it was everyone expect from Aurora, Spyro and Cynder.

"Thank you for your cooperation, Eclipse." Terrador sounded disgusted or it could be his head playing tricks on him. "We will give you our decision in just a moment." Terrador responded then went along with the other two guardians into a room to the right. Eclipse sat down on his hutches and sighed. _Well I guess the ancestors will get to see me again._ He could feel everyone's gaze on him, whether it was out of anger, curiosity, or pity. He wanted to leave, it was already over, he knew that the guardians are going to hand out a death sentence. All that mattered is that he answered honestly and completely. It seemed like forever before the guardians came out of their room, they all looked up at them as they returned to their seats. Cyril looked upon him with anger, next to him, Volteer looked on in disgust. Terrador was the only one with a unreadable expression but he feared that he was the one who made the final decision.

"As the remaining guardian council of Warfang," It looked like the ice guardian was physically choking on his words as he read them off the scroll. _This was planned. They knew what to say whether I answered truthfully or not._ "we pronounce Eclipse the dragon," _How are they going to kill me? Hanging me? Burning me? Freezing then smashing me? Stab me with rocks? Beat me with rocks? ACID!?_ "not guilty of both war crimes and genocide." Cyril revealed. Everyone on the left released their breath and Eclipse stared at them in complete confusion.

"I respec- wait what?" He stepped back in confusion. He looked to the crowd to his left and they to were completely confused by the turn of events.

"We said you we're not guilty." Terrador clarified.

"So you're not holding accountable for the actions of my other side?" He asked.

"Yes Eclipse. You are forgiven for the actions of your dark side and may continue to reside in Warfang. We understand what it's like under the control of the more evil side of dragons like yourself." Terrador assured him, stealing a small glance and smile at Cynder. "Also I want you and everyone else to go to main hall at dusk. Their is something that I wish for you to partake in."

"I'll be there, don't you worry." Eclipse answered with a bow and he walked out of the room in disbelief, shortly followed by the other dragons. Eclipse looked to the sky and saw the sun at the midday mark, he turned back to group of dragons that fought their way out of the crowd to him. "I'm surprised that they found me not guilty. I even pleaded guilty and admitted to everything that I've done."

"I knew that they would understand about what you did but I thought they would give you some sort of punishment." Spyro responded

"So did I and I wonder what they want to do with us at the main hall." Cynder wondered. The others nodded in agreement.

"Well whatever it is, we have until dusk to do what we want." Flame smiled, he pointed to Spyro. "You, me, west courtyard, sparring match." Then Spyro smiled back at him

"Little agressive today are we Flame?" He quipped then two ran off to the western courtyard. They were shortly followed by a snickering Ember and Cynder who were holding back the laughter and shaking their heads slightly. Eclipse looked back at the two remaining dragons, Ardere and Frost. They had wild smiles

"You versus us same time, right here." Ardere stated, Eclipse raised a eyebrow but couldn't help but smirk.

"Copying the residents I see. Okay then, prepare to be utterly humiliated." Eclipse responded. Eclipse honestly didn't even try and still Ardere and Frost were thrown around like rag dolls. Of course Eclipse didn't hurt them but they were so easy to throw around, it was quite funny to the watching dragons who stayed to watch. Before Eclipse knew it the sky started to turn purple signaling the sign of dusk. After Eclipse made them, reluctantly, admit to defeat and they began walking to the main hall. Eclipse with his head held high, practically parading through the streets, followed by Ardere and Frost whose heads were held low. "C'mon boys pick up the pace. Sobbing about defeat ain't going to change it or improve your skills." He called back to them.

"Eclipse, can you do me a favor?" Ardere asked picking his head up slightly.

"What do you need?" Eclipse answered.

"Can you take it easy on me next time?" Ardere wondered, shaking his leg out in front of him.

"Ah but that would just destroy your sense of accomplishment when you finally do beat me, when I'm not trying much of course." He explained and a couple of groans was all he got in response. He smiled and continued to travel down the streets to the main hall with the pair of extremely sore dragons.

As they arrived they saw a big crowd all standing in front of a stage. The crowd was a mix of dragons, moles even some cheetahs. He looked back to Ardere and Frost and they just shrugged their shoulders. On the stage stood the three guardians as well as a older looking, blueish dragon that stood in the center of the stage. As they approached, the crowd moved to the side which made him stop and watch them form a path to the stage. He then noticed that Spyro and Cynder were also standing on the stage in front of the elder dragon, looking down on him. He began walking along the path to the stage, he looked around him at the giant crowd, he could hear them whispering to one another as he walked by.

"That's him, Eclipse."

"He's shorter than I thought he would be."

"That hatchling is the same as the Blood Dragon?"

"Is it safe to be here?"

"Do you think he's courting anyone?"

"I thought Cynder was the only black dragon."

"I heard that he kills dragons by staring at them."

He approached the stage the elder blue dragon smiled down at him. He gave an awkward smile back at him and looked up to him.

"Stand here, young dragon." He said as he pointed next to Spyro. He looked over the crowd and recognized Flame and Ember, as well as Ardere and Frost among the mix. He smiled when his eyes found Aurora on the ground, she saw him and smiled back softly making his own heart flutter slightly. "Hello great city of Warfang! Some of you may know me as your past fire guardian and some of you won't know me at all. My name is Ignitus and I am the Chronicler for this age. I'm here in order recognize these three young dragons of their actions in protecting this world from the dark forces that sought to end the peace." He walked over to Cynder. "Cynder, formally known as the Terror of the Skies. Her heroic actions in the defeat of Malefor shall be remembered for ages as one of the two dragons who defeated the Dark Master twice." The crowd began to clap and cheer. They silenced once the Chronicler stopped behind Spyro.

"Spyro, the savior of our world and the purple dragon of the past age. He has come a long way from when he first was discovered by myself. He has done many actions in defense of this world from the Dark Master and his dark followers. Your name will be remembered for ages to come and will be what everything purple strives to be." The crowd started to laugh "In seriousness this young dragon will be what every dragon knows to be good and what they all strive to be." They began to clap for the purple dragon, who only smiled down at them. Once again the stopped once the Chronicler stopped behind Eclipse.

"Eclipse, formerly known as the Blood Dragon. You were able to break free of Malefor's dark hold and save three young dragons from multiple different dangers even to the point of fighting a shadow that took the form of your past self. I will reveal that Eclipse has appeared many times in the book of the dead and his recent death entries were in defense of this world. You have come very far in these six short months. You have carved your place in history as a savior instead as a dark servant. Your name will be known all around the world and throughout history for many ages as the only dragon to solely stand up to the Dark Master himself and defeat him." The crowd cheered and clapped as the Chronicler made his way in front of the three young dragons. "City of Warfang! I present to you the heroes of our world and of this age. May their lives be filled with joy, happiness and future success as these dragons have done so much in their still very young lives!" The crowd continued to cheer as the elder dragon retreated behind the younger dragons. The three dragons pulled each other into a hearty hug and left the stage.

That night, they had a massive feast in their honor and a party that lasted through the night. The festival lasted for an entire week, where dances, feasts and parties were held almost around the clock. The final night of the festival Eclipse and Aurora found themselves walking through the gardens, simply enjoying each others company. The gardens were quiet for the residents of the city were in the hall enjoying another dance and feast. Both Eclipse and Aurora were forced sneak away from the crowd because every time they got together they would be ripped apart by a group of young dragoness who wanted to woo Eclipse away from Aurora. The two walked down a path that led along the side of the lake in the gardens.

"This festival is amazing, I've never had as much fun." Aurora exclaimed was they went along.

"Me either. This has been a fun week." Eclipse agreed.

"This week would be better if I could have you to myself more. Instead you are basically the target for every dragoness in the city." Aurora complained.

"Well you have me now so does that improve the week?" He asked nudging her slightly.

"It most certainly does." She smiled nudging him back, he smiled back at her and gave her a peck on the cheek causing her to giggle slightly. They found a spot on the side of the path where they had a perfect view of the lake and laid down, looking over the sparkling lake. Aurora placed her head on his shoulder and started to doze off silently. He shook his shoulder slightly causing Aurora to open her eyes in irritation. "Can't you see I'm trying to sleep. Doing the things that we've done I think I have a right to sleep on your shoulder." She groaned.

"I'm honestly too tired to carry you all the way back to the room." Eclipse replied with a slight smile.

"Aw. The savior of the world is too tired to carry a dragoness back to her room. How sad." She mocked.

"Well dying can do that to a dragon." He joked.

"Having to rip dragonesses claws off your dragon every hour can also do that to you." She shot back.

"Touche." Eclipse replied then started to laugh, Aurora shortly following. To Eclipse, this was where he felt he needed to be. Next to her and making her laugh, smile and just generally happy. He was glad to be able to be here, the ancestors above very well could've kept him away but they gave him another chance. He knew that this was most likely the last time any such miracles would happen, him being honored with coming back from death and the only reason for him being here now was because of what he did to die. _Now, I can live in peace. No more dark master's to control me, no danger to anyone I love and care for, and no more of my other side. I'm grateful for this last life and I will live it to the fullest._ Their laughter eventually died out and they continued to gaze over the lake. "We made it." He stated softly.

"We sure did Eclipse and I'm happy be able to share this city with you." She confessed putting her head back on his shoulder with a sigh.

"I'm happy that I was able to make it. We've faced so many challenges just so we can live in peace." Eclipse sighed. Aurora laughed softly.

"Well we can finally live in peace. All thanks to you and your idiotic decisions." She replied with a slight laugh

"Well those idiotic decisions saved you and the rest of the dragon race." He countered The moon sat in the center of the sky and it's light shined down onto the lake below. The large white orb made Eclipse smile as it shined in the sky. Eclipse always wondered why he was named after when the lunar body would block out the sun. Then realized who was responsible for naming him and what his main use was for said dragon. Yet it's always been a mystery, Malefor could've named him anything he wanted to but he chose Eclipse. That past was long behind him though, he was a new dragon who cared for others and protected them with his life. He was no longer feared by small hatchlings and known as something of the darkest of nightmares. He was no longer the murderer that old history books described him to be or known as the 'Blood Dragon'. The past week was completely alien to him, dragons willingly talking to him, smaller dragons drawing pictures of him as their hero for school and what they want to be, adults looking down on him with a grand smile instead of a face full of terror and horror. He was now respected as a hero and a role model to the younger dragons. _I really have come far within the past months._ He looked down at the asleep dragoness next to him and smiled at her lightly. _We all have._ "Are you watching me sleep?" She groaned and looked up at him with her blue eyes.

"Is that a problem?" He asked

"No because I know you're watching over me with good intentions." She answered calmly returning the soft smile. "I love you Eclipse."

"I love you too."

 **A/N well, I fell like it's time to hide in a corner from all the people that will start yelling at me that the ending was cheesy. God help me. As for anyone of you wondering if there is going to be a sequel (looking at you person who is already typing up the review/private message asking for a sequel!) yes there will be and oh boy do I have a nice plot for this one. *smiles devilishly* As for the people who didn't want one and/or found this story bad, thank you for at least reading it, it means a lot to me that you did.**

 **Thank you to Jagger** **Dorulu Wilderness letting me use your dragon god OCs and I'm sorry for not having a full body appearance. I suggest for people to go check him out and read his stories, I think that they were a good read. Until Next time Folks... Happy Reading!  
**


	15. Epilogue

After the festival, life was normal for the next decade. Ardere took the place as the new fire guardian and became leader of the guardian council in Warfang. He ended up becoming known as one of the best guardians and also found out he was a descendant of the very first fire guardian, Ignis. Frost became one of the best ice sculptors in the city, making some of the most complex sculptures that still stand proud in the city walls. He is also one of the most intelligent dragons in the city, teaching almost four classes at the same time without fault. Frost doesn't have a very good connection to the hatchlings because of such. Cynder ended up becoming the second in command of the new Warfang guard. She also forgave, dated, then married Spyro and raised three hatchlings, two daughters named Verdina and the other named Clover, and a son that goes by the name Astral, who is a purple dragon like his father. Spyro, with the help of both Cynder and Eclipse, went on to master the other four elements and earning the title of Master of the Elements. He not only became a father and husband he also became the elemental teacher that teaches hatchlings how to use their elements correctly. He even helped some of the older dragons who never received such training because of the war against Malefor. Finally, Eclipse and Aurora. Eclipse became the commander of the Warfang guard and the number one combat instructor in the city. He oversaw the rebuilding effort of areas of the city that didn't recover from the war and grublin attack. He hand picked who would be on the guard and who would become a special unit of the guard that protected the guardians specifically. He also personally trained the entire guard force and built the self defense programs at the school, also helping Spyro train students that showed the elements of Poison, Shadow and Fear. Lastly he built the program that helped students with advanced versions of the elements and special talents like himself. Aurora married Eclipse and they raised two hatchlings. A son named Onyx and a daughter named Jade. Aurora became the new Wind Guardian and argued about having Guardians for the other three which she won. She became known as one of the most just and caring Guardians on the council. She was often assisting the dragons who sustained injuries during the war against Malefor and helping the children with their studies. She built a memorial for all those perished during the war and the last grublin attack on Warfang.

The day was peaceful, Eclipse was rummaging around his old room still in the process of moving things out and into his young family's house on the western side of Warfang. As he was going through his old chest, he stopped at a old folded up piece of paper and stared at it, he realized what it was and faltered slightly. Opening it up, he read through it frowning as he went. It was his letter to Aurora encased he died or left them during the trip to Warfang. He looked back into the chest and saw one of his favorite pictures sitting beneath it. He carefully wiped the dust off it and put it into his small leather pouch that hung around his neck along with the grave letter. He was about to shut the chest when something sparked in the corner of his eye. He looked back into the chest and saw something golden.

He picked it up and it amazed him. It was his old promise bracelet that he bought for him and Aurora. It was all mangled from the acid he died in almost a decade ago, he turned it around studying it. He smiled when he saw the lone white diamond that still sat in its original spot. He carefully slipped it up his arm, the mangled bracelet matched the small ring that sat on one of his claws. He closed the chest and looked around the small room that he once resided in with Aurora, he looked at the door that lead to the small living room and eventually his children's room. He walked out to the balcony and looked over the bustling city below him. The city has almost fully recovered from the war and has even began to grow outside the original walls. The streets below full of dragons of many different colors and talents, along with moles and some cheetahs of different shades.

He took off into the sky and soared across the city. He looked to the ground below as it passed below him. His large figure casts a shadow that rivaled even Terrador's that glided across the stone ground. He saw two familiar hatchlings playing in the park below, he smiled as he knew who they were. Their black and grey scales couldn't be confused by him in a million years. "Hey kids!" He yelled down to them, they looked up in excitement then jumped into the air.

"Daddy!" Shouted the young black dragoness as she flew towards him.

"Hey dad!" The grey brother yelled behind his sister. Eclipse laughed as they flew closer to him. He loved his kids, both Jade and Onyx. His daughter was his little princess and was one of the sweetest souls that he's ever known. Then Onyx was his pride and joy, he was a shadow dragon, taking after his dad. He also shared his talent of teleportation and Onyx used it often to help others which made both him and Aurora happy. Both of his kids meant the world to him, he loved seeing them grow up from their small eggs to these sweet and loving hatchlings.

"Daddy!" Jade shouted hugging her father. Her brother following shortly afterwards.

"You guys having a good day?" He asked them still hugging them tight, spinning slowly in the air.

"Yeah, I went with Auntie Cynder, Verdina and Clover out into the fields and we picked some flowers for the festival tonight." Jade giggled under her father. Cynder may not be a blood related sister but that's really all he had when it came to family before his kids and Aurora, so his kids tended to call her auntie all the time. The same goes for when her kids saw him or Aurora, but he's always happy to hear Uncle Eclipse. He loved the way that his family both blood and not have turned out. The time of the Silver Festival was here and his family was helping get the city ready. The Silver festival celebrated the time when Eclipse returned to Warfang and his victory over Malefor, sealing Malefor away to a place where he won't escape. He quite liked the name and wondered how the Guardians came up with it, he always had a feeling that Aurora had something to do with it. Seeing as it came in effect almost the day she was titled the next wind guardian.

"What did you do today buddy?" He asked directed to his son, Onyx looked up at him with his light blue eyes. He often reminded him of Aurora when Eclipse looked at him, his light grey scales were really the only thing that separated him from his mother.

"I went with Uncle Spyro and Astral into the woods and went hunting. It was a lot of fun." Onyx told him. Eclipse smiled brightly at his kids.

"What's in your bag daddy?" Jade asked him poking his small leather bag.

"It's-" He thought for a moment.

"What is it?" She asked again, her gorgeous blue eyes staring at him.

"It's just some memories." Eclipse responded with a smile. "I'll show you when we get home, mommy is going to want to see them too."

His daughter gasped then kicked her legs and getting out of Eclipse's hold, she flew ahead and did a loop-d-loop in front of them. "C'mon daddy, c'mon!" She shouted then raced ahead. "Race you home Onyx!" she challenged, her brother raced ahead to catch up to her. Eclipse laughed and flew after them, his kids always seemed to be challenging to each other in different kinds competitions. It was funny to see them try their best to beat each other, it reminded him of himself and Ardere when Eclipse came back. They would always be challenging each other to duels and races, of course Eclipse would win because of his 13 years of experience of doing that and more but sometimes he would let Ardere win. He found Jade trotting circles around Onyx with her head hung high. "I win again!" She bragged.

"Jade, what is the rule about bragging in this family?" Eclipse asked as he landed. His daughter looked at her father.

"It's not allowed." She recited.

"What do you say to your brother now?" He continued.

"Sorry Onyx." She apologized.

"It's okay Jade. You won fair and square, so I expected you to brag. It's no big deal." Onyx accepted maturely. Jade nuzzled him under his chin and went inside the house. It sometimes amazed Eclipse, Onyx and Jade were twins and yet at first glance it seems that Onyx is older than her, he's bigger, more mature and stronger than her. He's even caught Jade slipping up and saying that Onyx is her big brother sometimes.

"Stop being so mature." Eclipse joked while playfully putting Onyx in a playful headlock.

"Dad." He groaned trying to get out of his father's lock. Eclipse laughed and let him go.

"C'mon. Let's head inside." Eclipse sighed and went inside, his son following behind him. They entered the house and saw Jade jumping up and down in front of Aurora. Aurora was laughing as Jade told her a story but she stopped when Eclipse walked in.

"Daddy says that he has some memories in his bag." Jade blurted happily.

"Oh, does he now?" Aurora questioned with a raised eyebrow, looking in Eclipse direction. Eclipse walked over and took his small leather bag off. Placing it on a small table he opened it and pulled out a small picture. Aurora gasped and hugged him, making him drop the picture to the ground. Jade picked it up and studied it with confusion.

"Who are these dragons daddy and why do you have a picture of them?" She asked looking up at him.

"Those dragons in the picture are me and daddy when we were young." Aurora explained "That's one of my favorite pictures that your daddy gave to me." She looked at Eclipse. "I can't believe you found it."

"I knew I had it somewhere in that chest. I just needed to move some stuff around." He said casually slipping off the bracelet on his arm.

"Why is it one of your favorite pictures?" Jade asked looking back at the picture.

"Because it was the first one he gave me when we first arrived here." Aurora explained leaning down to Jade's level.

"Really! So this is really old picture." Jade gasped.

"That picture is about a decade old now." Eclipse replied as the bracelet slipped off and was now resting in his paw. He tapped Aurora's shoulder and as she got up he showed her the bracelet.

"Eclipse. You still have it?" She gasped while taking the bracelet from his hand. She hugged it tight against her chest.

"Still have what mom?" Onyx asked trying to see.

"This bracelet, I guess you could say this is when we proposed to each other right?" Aurora explained with a small laugh, while taking a look at Eclipse.

"It was a promise bracelet and we promised that we would always be together so I guess so." Eclipse shrugged.

"Why does it look so bad and yours looks so good mom?" Onyx asked comparing it to the bracelet on her arm.

"That's a story for when you're older I'm afraid." Aurora smiled only receiving a groan from the two hatchlings. "Oh stop it. You'll be told at some point, now go outside and play." She laughed. The two young dragons ran out of the house and outside to their small yard. Aurora looked back at her husband and gave him a small peck on the lips. Eclipse sighed contently and watched as she walked over to a small wooden box on a stand that sat on a counter. Eclipse approached her from behind and saw what she was doing. She opened the box revealing three picture frames only two of them were filled. The left frame had a picture of him and Aurora sitting next to the lake in the gardens during the last night of the first festival. The frame on the right held a picture of their wedding, one of the happiest days of Eclipse's life. Aurora carefully slid the picture in the center frame and took a step back, bumping into Eclipse. "Sorry." She looked at the now completed set of pictures. "It's all done. How does it look?" She asked.

"It looks beautiful Aurora." He looked down at her. "Almost as beautiful as you." He complimented kissing the top of her head.

"Eclipse!" She gasped while hitting him in the chest.

"What? I just thought that I should deliver any compliments when they're due." He said innocently.

"You've been complimenting me every day this month, you can take a break for one day." She explained.

"But you've been getting more and more beautiful each day. Besides can't I compliment my wife?" He quipped.

"Eclipse!" She restated while hitting him again.

"Fine, Fine, Fine." He surrendered while playfully putting his hands up. He smirked "I'll stop complimenting my gorgeous wife." He stated quickly then ran out the door. Aurora smiled and shook her head. She looked out the window and saw Eclipse had started playing with their kids. She looked next to her and stared at a lone picture frame. The picture was of the six of them, her, Eclipse, Ardere, her brother Frost, Cynder and Spyro all sitting in front of the gate to Warfang while they were still 15 years old. Besides that frame was another frame with a picture of the same group of dragons just with a few additions. A young Jade and Onyx, a hatchling Clover and Verdina, and a two year old Astral sat in front of the group and had a wide smile. The group of dragons sat in front of the gate now older and larger. The two pictures were side by side and looked practically brand new. She remembered the adventure they had back then and how far they've come since then.

She looked out the window again and saw Eclipse rolling across the ground laughing as the kids playfully attacked him with the kids laughing with him. A smile appeared on her face and she moved from the window to the door leading outside. The kids have now got off of Eclipse but all of them were still laughing. She smiled then crouched down pointing herself at the group of dragons. "Rawr!" She screamed then pounced, Jade screamed and dived out of the way with Onyx. Eclipse wasn't so lucky and got tackled by Aurora sending them rolling around the yard. She was laughing when they stopped and so was Eclipse who was trapped under her. She felt something light jump on her and heard more laughter.

"I got you mommy!" Jade squealed through her laughter.

"You got me? Oh no!" Aurora played.

They continued to play in the yard all day and into the early hours of the night. When the kids started to rub their eyes and yawning they knew it was time for them to go to bed. Eclipse just came out of the kid's room and sat down on the cushions in front of the raging fireplace alongside Aurora. They laid there watching the fire as it burned and talked about the upcoming festival. Eclipse then remembered about the last memory that he left in his 'bag of mystery' as his kids called it. He got up, causing Aurora to groan in irritation as she was leaning on him, and walked to the black leather bag. He grabbed the slip of paper and returned to the fireplace. He showed it to Aurora who grabbed it and opened it up in curiosity, tears started to leave her eyes as soon as she read through the letter. Once she was finished she looked at Eclipse with tears in her eyes. He pulled her close to him with his wing and hushed her.

"I wrote that in case that ever did happen. I'm not leaving you and I never will." Eclipse explained softly so the kids wouldn't hear if they were still awake.

"I'm glad that you wrote it for me but I'm even more glad that I'm able to read it with you sitting right next to me." Aurora cried softly. "But why did you show me this and why now? You're still alive and you're still here with me, I-I-I don't understand."

"Because I wanted to show you this." He answered then crumpled the paper into a ball, he held it in front of her then threw it into the fire. She watched it catch flame and slowly burn, turning black and into ash. She looked back to Eclipse who was staring at the fire. "I'm not going anywhere, so that letter is a piece of wasted paper. I just wanted to show you that, I will never leave you, but I also wanted to let you see this with that in kind." He then pulled out another slip of paper from underneath his cushion and handed it to her. She opened it and slowly read it, this time with a steady stream of tears flowing down her face. She threw the paper down and instantly locked lips with Eclipse. She closed her eyes and so did he, they just wanted to enjoyed each other's presence.

Dear Eclipse,

You don't know me or rather you won't remember me. My name is Nova. It has come of my attention that you have sealed my brother Malefor away within a quite special place. For this I congratulate you greatly, I really do, you don't hear of a 15 year old hatchling doing such draining magic. On the other paw, he was still my only brother and my only living family. Now, I'm afraid that you have truly messed with forces that you can not control. For this, I will begin my quest to destroy you. I will take away everything that you have, your sister, your wife, and even your sweet and innocent children. What was their names again? Jade and Onyx I think, but that won't matter for I will begin this war. So I will say to you good luck. Batten down your hatches and prepare for a war that will truly devastate the world as we know it. My army is ready. Now ask yourself, is yours? Are you ready to watch your best friends fall under the pressure of battle. Are you ready to keep your promise to Aurora and your family? Eclipse, you and Cynder were once one of my prized assassins that I trained myself, it's a true shame that you decided to leave me for that purple traitor Spyro. I will be coming liking a rolling tornado and once I arrive I will give you one chance to surrender. If you refuse, I will rip that city apart, brick by brick, slaughtering everything and everyone in sight, which includes your families and friends. If you accept then I will give you a chance to defeat me in battle, one on one and no tricks such as weaponry or intervention. Just pure skill in melee fighting and elemental power. If I win then I will kill you in front of your family which will satisfy my need for revenge quite well. If you win then my army will retreat and you will not hear from me again.

From,

Nova

P.S.

Don't worry, I'll go easy but only because your,

my family afterall.

He was ready to fight, he had to be. He was ready to fight for his family and this city. He had to get everyone ready to fight, he had to prepare for war. He had more than enough experience of fighting but he was going to fight his mentor. The dragon who taught him these things, the dragon who has mastered the art long before he has. He pulled away from Aurora and looked down at her. "No matter what happens just know that I love you." He whispered into her ear.

"No matter what happens to you weather you rise or fall I want you to know that I love you too." She replied pulling him in for another kiss.

This is who he was fighting for. The hatchlings in the next room is why he was going to meet Nova on the field. The family that adored him so much was why he was going to fight someone that knew him inside out. He had to prepare to fight, he had to learn new fighting techniques, he needed to learn the other four elements or at least one of them to give him an edge in battle. He had to prepare himself to protect once again. When Nova walks to the gates asking for him, Eclipse will meet him in the field and fight until he can't any longer. He had to, for his wife, his children, his friends and for the residents of Warfang. Eclipse had to prepare himself to either walk off that field or die trying.


End file.
